Chicago Horse Show

In Chicago, threats flew that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals would close the Horse Show.

Irene Castle McLaughlin started the rumor. In a letter to the Chicago Tribune, the onetime dancer complained bitterly of cruelty to show horses. Three and five gaited hacks carry their tails high in the show ring. This unnatural elevation is effected by tail sets affixed while show horses are at leisure. "Hideous instruments of torture," complained Mrs. Castle.

A tail set is an iron and leather device, forcing the tail upward. When first applied "it causes considerable pain," said Dr. George McKillip, Chicago veterinarian, "but after the first use there is nothing cruel or painful about it."

A committee of veterinaries, captained by Dr. McKillip, decreed tail sets agreeable to horses. The S. P. C. A. accepted the decree. Donning its diamonds, Chicago trouped to the Horse Show, watched three and five gaited hacks prance solemnly around the ring, their tails waving high behind them.