The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-11-11
$2, 100000 Worth Of Horses Strut For SOcialiteS At National Show
War Reduces Foreign Army Teams To Two
BY BURTON BENJAMIN

BY BURTON BENJAMIN (NEA Service Staff COrrespOndent)
 New York, November 1.-Two million dollars worth of sleek, conbed and curried horsedesh-on the hoof-naS strutted its stun at Madison Square Garden. The Seth annual National Horse Show IS winding up @ week of whinneytng at the most social of all audiences.
 The horse show was the "auto show" in the days before the gaS wagon, It evoked the same amount of nationwide interest that todays National Automobile Show arouseS The horse show is sill the "auto show" for the country squire.
 Backbone of the affair are the socially select. They put the pick of their stables through rigorous ly defined paces before Q panel of expert horsemen-judges. Equally important are the events for rider as well as horse, clilnaxing in the military team events.
 World War II has cIrtailed the international aspect of this years show. Only three countries --- the United States, Peru and Cuba = entered army teams.
 FIVE TYPES OF HORSES
 COMPETE IN EVENTS
 The National Horse Show is pri- marily concerned with five types of horses - harness, hackney, saddle, jumpers and thoroughbred hunters. Unlike Topsy, who "just growed" show horses are probably the most carefully bred animals in the world.
 Thoroughbred horses are the old- est improved breed. They date back to the reign of Charles l lin Eng land, when 8 number of Barb mares were imported from the Royal tables of Arabia. These and other carefully selected mates weer mated with Byerly Turk, Darley Arabian and Godolphin Barb.
 Every thoroughbred in the world today, which includes the race horses, traces ancestry directly to one of these three Arabian horses.
 Thoroughbreds are not necessar- fly desirable for all uses.
 Saddle horses, for example, need stamina to carry Q rider long dis. tances.
 The American saddle horse, first bred as such in the South, is a cross-bred horse with, of course, some thoroughbred blood.
 Hackneys, too, are of composite blood streams. They were first bred in England, when Blaze, son of Flying Childers by Darley Arabian (the thoroughbred strain), was mated to a Norfolk trotter and pro- duced Shades, generally credited with being the foundation sire of the hackney type.
 KNOCK-DOWN-AND-OUT
 NUMBERS ARE EXCITING
 Most popular attraction at tho horse show are the jumping class es, military and non-military. Knock down -and-out" events are the most exciting from the specte- tors viewpoint. Faults - such as ticking or knocking--are irnme. diately apparent.
 The maximum height of the jumps is usually five feet.
 Courses vary with events, and table of faults Is used to decide winners.
 Another perennial favorite is the dressage exhibition. This art dates back some 300 years in Europe. Dressage riding is not to be con- fused with high school or trick riding, where whips, voice and oth- CT aids are used to make the horse bow, paw and execute other more or less natural movements.
 Chief requirement. in training a horse fo rdreSsage is to build up an equine language of varying sig. nals, largely through leg and arm pressure. In dressage the horse performs willingly and not through fear of punishment. It requires much patience and skill to get the horse to do these movements in the sequence desired.
 Dressage exhibitions this year are being given by It. Col. Hiram E. Futile of Fort Riley, Kans., who alternases three horses = Vast, Olympic and Si Murray.
 Most spectacular of the three is Vast, the only horse that has ever been made to gallop backward in