FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 199 



had on the grounds that day over two thousand people. It was held on a 

 Saturday. Now I don't know as I could recommend any one way that is 

 better than another for organizing, or any one way which would be the 

 best. It is up to the men in your community to work out a plan for them- 

 selves. In organizing a horse show in a locality where you have never 

 held one before, it might be well to start with a colt show, the second year 

 you could include the yearling class, and the two year old class, because I 

 think there is nothing so good as to try the judge out. He places the 

 colts this year and then brings in the yearlings and two year olds and 

 finally the mature animals. In this way you can find out whether the 

 judge is right in his decision. I think that is one of the best features of 

 these shows. 



Now there is the question of financing these shows. The most successful 

 shows have a large number of prizes. Some have as many as eight and 

 ten premiums. The first premium might not be over seven or eight dollars. 

 Sometimes they use merchandise for premiums. But the one thing that 

 insures success in a colt show is a nice ribbon. A man may win two 

 dollars, five dollars, or ten dollars, but he soon spends it. But you get 

 a nice ribbon for a prize and he will keep it. I have gone back to these 

 places where they have given nice ribbons, fhree or five years later, and 

 found these ribbons hanging in the parlors. The people take pride in 

 them and show them to their friends. Select good colors — a nice purple, 

 for instance. Put up eight or ten prizes and you will have plenty of 

 entries. 



These horse shows have been held in September, October, November and 

 December. They are holding them all four of these months, some of 

 them preferring one month and others another. I think the best day of 

 the week for holding these shows is Saturday. There is no other time 

 like a Saturday afternoon, and there is no better place to hold a colt show 

 than a small town. I know some larger towns where you could hold a 

 successful colt show, but the thing to do is to get into the small town, say 

 from five hundred or a thousand or fifteen hundred people. It is sure to 

 be the only interest there, and the people will turn out to see the colt 

 show. Take such places as Ankeny or Alleman or Elkhart, and every 

 man, woman and child in the entire community attends. 



If you were to hold these shows in a community and put up a lot of 

 money and distribute these premiums, they would not be worth while. 

 These' shows must be strictly educational, and every colt that comes into 

 that show, I don't care if there is forty-five in a class, should be rated by 

 the judge and he should give his criticisms of each and every colt. This 

 is a good thing, and often the man who does not win a prize gets the 

 most out of it. He should know what is good about his colt and also what 

 is undesirable. There is nothing that will weed a poor stallion out of a 

 community quicker than a good colt show. I know that to be a fact. 



In each and every locality, I don't care whether you have organized this 

 show through the Farmers' Institute or the local business men, every 

 owner of a stallion in his community ought to offer prizes for colts sired 

 by his horse. These prizes are not, as a rule, cash prizes. They give 

 them as service fees. It is a good thing for the man, it is good advertising, 

 and it is good for the colt show. In my judgment there is no other line 



