THE GREAT HORSE SHOW.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 26 July 1907, Page 4

THE GREAT HORSE SHOW.

The international horF* show at Olyropia was an immense affair. All other horse shoas p«!<? beiore one in wV?fc the enliles Are 2ioo. the vaVa ol llu inimal* £500,000. the total amount spent by exhibitors £IOO.OV>. the anient of •i«*i«thin ll'.OW. Some «' tli« American exlicll' .rt sient is m<t «? i'lMtr on their exhibits. Mr Winans, Mr Vanderliilt, and others called in the services of the most fashionable West End uptnlsterers to decorate their horsc-lioxes, which were eurUmcd with the fine«t Millard table cloth, and finished off with gilt cornices and costly gold fringes. The stalls of Mr Arn:«ur's ihausiotn wei--; lined with white chiffon, while the exteriors were covered with red and yellow plush. The horses of the great brewing firm of Kuinncss stood o;i the softest of peat moss, amid baskets of flowers, in stalls draped in blue. More elaborate till was the draught horse* stable, called the "Cart Horses Boudoir." Between the boxes hung half a dozen immense ilower baskets full of real roses, while the boxes themselves were richly draped with 2000 yards of sateen, art muslin, and plu*h. The only drawback was that the different exhibitors showoi! different colors, and Messrs Guinness' Cambridge blue, for instance, clashed somewhat with the neighltoring red, white and got* on Mr Armour's, l!c----rolutionary methods were introduced into the ring. The spectators looked on rural scenes in which every flower and tree was really growing. Banked with turf from the Surrey hills, the. outside of the ring was a green hedgerow, full of flowers, and large trees. A weak point In the British exhibit seems to have been the cavalry type. "Can it be said," says a London paper, "that all the breeds represented at Olympia are of high value! What is the value of the hackney? The hackney is bred to be a fine-looking horn, largely for Park use. Take the hackney away from tlr> sphere, and be is pr.tetie-.illy useless, l-'ar too much attention, we think, is paid to the hackney, and far too little is paid to the breeding of the military horse—the charger and the gun-horse. It Is nothing short of a scandal that in thfe coenfry, .which has surpassed the whole world in horsecraft. so little encouragement is offered to farmers to raise cavalry mounts, and the scandal becomes a danger when we allow foreign buyers to go through England and Ireland depleting our national stock by buying up the best young brood mares."