New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-03
WILL DIGNITY
THOROUGHBRED
AT HORSE SHOW
Special Day VIII Be Set
Aside This Year for Pure
BloOded Type.

As a public object lesson in the util-
ity of the thorough bred horse. the Ma
tional Horse Show Association has
this year opened several competitions
exclusively for thoroughbred saddle
horses, thoroughbred hunters, thor
oughbred polo ponies, etc, and is so
arranging its programme for the an
ual exhibition at Madison square
Garden on November G TO - that all
these classes may be judged on the
same day, which will be officially desig
mated as Thoroughbred day"
Members Of the Jockey Club and
other horsemen identified with racing
and steeplechssing are quite enthusiast
tic over the departure as evidence Of
the dawning Of q better conception II
the true character and Importance Of
the thoroughbred. and Of the growth
of a more catholic spirit within the
ranks Of horsemen.
Man is by nature partisan, and per-
haps In no sphere does the partisan
spirit assert itself more pointedly and
tenaciously than IN Workmanship.
How common are the devotee Of the
thoroughbred who has no use for the
cold bloOded" trotter or hackney, the
hackney admirer who affects a lofty
contempt for the light harness horse,
and the trotting enthusiast who de-
rides tho high acting hackney and
merely tolerates the thoroughbred
runner.
The boar of ages has gathered
around the boast Of the trotting horse
men that the trotter's special claim 10
popularity and value lies in the fact
that he is a horse Of wide range and
utility. as contrasted with the thor
ouehbred, which they love 10 describe
as % racing machine or nothing"
A modicum of truth in this asser-
tion might have been conceded before
hunting and polo and riding had at
tanned their present popularity in this
country, but to-day it may be peril
nently asked whether the shoe is not
likely TO be found on the other foot
IN the near future. when the trotter
will be the horse that is regarded az
"a racing machine or nothing"
In the great revolution which is
sweeping over the horse world as a
result Of the invention of motor We
hicles the harness horse. and more
particularly the light-harness horse.
has felt the effect of mechanical com
petition far more than has the riding
horse, and his future appears 20 be
more uncertain.
Just how and why and when the
movement started may be difficult to
explain, but the fact is undisputed that
of late years there has been a vast
widening of the sphere of the thor
oughbred, which must form an impOr-
tant chapter in American horse his
tory.
In the early days of the Horse Show
there was scarcely place for him in
the whole range of the classifcatlOns.
I'm those days the hunters were for
the most part coarse horses showing
little trace Of racing blood. The saddle
horses were chiefly grades or by
products of the trotter. the hackney
and the gated Kentucky saddle breed,
while the polo ponies were fat little
dumplings, far removed from the thor
oughbred type.
To-day ell is changed. The high speed
at which a twentieth century hunter
must 20 20 be in the first flight in
following hounds has brought the thor
oughbred horse and the thrce-Quortcr
bred horse 20 the front in this field. In
polo the same story is told. The little
thirteen hand cobs Of thirty years ago
have given place 20 fftecn-hand horses
that are Often clean thorouChbreds
and which must possess the speed of
the Thoroughbred 10 play successfully
in important games.