Horses

"Did you hear about the Lady Godiva stunt a girl is going to pull?"

"What's that--Lady Godiva?"

"A girl without any clothes on is going to ride horseback down Fifth Avenue!"

"Great! I haven't seen a horse in years."

--OLD JOKE.

A goodly crush of people who had not seen a horse in years paid for that privilege last week in Manhattan. At Madison Square Garden was held the National Horse Show. About 1,000 horses (worth $3,000,000) were exhibited for glory, money prizes, cups, gay colored ribbons.

Time was when the Show stood in the public consciousness as a fashion mirror and a society assemblage, more than as a gathering of horses. In those days there were more horses in use, less society. The latter, formidably fortified with new apparel, converged from many cities; festivities started with a dinner at Del-monico's;*everything was eminently haughty. It was well worth the public's money to see such sights. It still is, no doubt; but last week most people went to see the horses.

In place of a prize ring, an ice surface for hockey, a bicycle track and other floor devices with which Madison Square Garden is normally equipped of evenings, the customers saw dirt. Soft dirt where hapless riders might tumble unhurt. In the middle of the dirt they saw suave gentlemen in cutaways (afternoons) and evening clothes; judges of horses. Also "Dutch" White, professional ringmaster of many a horseshow, resplendent in a scarlet & gold suit.

Round and round these immaculate mortals and the man in red, went horses all day long. Polo ponies, saddle horses, hunters, pony tandems, draft horses, tandems, hackneys, artillery horses strapped to caissons, police mounts, jumpers, saddle tandems, road hacks. Some walked, some trotted, jumped, pulled phaetons, balked, whinnied, won and lost. To add to the illusion, a clatter of old time coachesf filled the arena now and then, with "coaching parties" riding on their roofs. William H. Vanderbilt tooled one of them. Another exhibitor at the show was J. G. Gerardi, of Scranton, Pa., for whom a kind-hearted judge had postponed a 30 day sentence for violation of liquor laws that he might show his animal, Halerood Hal.

One of the rare industries in which the horse has not yet become inactive is that of peddling milk. Accordingly there were milk wagon horses; also ice cream wagon horses; commercial delivery horses--all briskly dragging their owner's wagons painted with gaudy signs.

Another industry which requires the horse is the military; a major feature of the week was the tests for army animals. The first evening Major R. S. Timmis, Canada, rode Bucephalus (name of the war horse of Alexander the Great) to win an international cup, made in London for George III, latterly presented by Jan Ciechanowski, Polish Minister. Poland possessed itself of the important International Military Trophy in jumping contest against U. S., Canada, France.

Gray Bally MacShane, famed winner of many a ribbon in horse shows these many years, acquired what some consider the most cherished of prizes --t h e Brooks-Bryce Foundation Trophy, competed for at the International Show, London, and the National Horse Show. His owner, Frederick Bontecou, as specified in the bond, took him over the jumps.

Each day from nine a.m. to midnight the show went on. In one corner a band played. Along the side glowed a large sign announcing approaching prizefights. Incredibly important personages of the U. S. peerages arrived and peered contentedly. One night 12,000 gathered, viewed the spectacle. Young ladies in derbies or silk hats idled with friends in the seat tiers waiting for their turns to ride or drive. Of afternoons were often noted box parties of well washed children of families who properly appreciate the horse.

*For many years most famed of smart restaurants; killed, its friends allege, by Prohibition.

/-Except by rare special order, there is no longer any manufacture in U. S. of smart equipages designed for horse power.