EXHIBITION OF HORSES. 319 



gray is not only the most fashionable color in Arabia, but is 

 said to be the prevailing color of its best animals. 



General "Washington's favorite war horse was gray, and it 

 appears that gray was a favorite color for horses with him. 



A turf writer remarks that " A feature which seems to be- 

 long to gray horses to a greater degree than to any other is 

 longevity." It is true that old Mambrino lived to the age of 

 thirty-two years ; Messenger to twenty-eight ; Gray Eagle to 

 twenty-eight; Lady Suffolk twenty-five, and Gray Diomed 

 twenty ; and is not the typical old gray horse known in every 

 neighborhood throughout the land ? 



I have not intended this history of gray horses to influence 

 anyone in their favor, or as an argument to show that they 

 were superior to those of other colors ; but rather to call at- 

 tention to the fact that color was a matter of taste or preju- 

 dice, and that a good horse or a good breed of horses should 

 not be valued the less on account of its color, even if that 

 color should happen to be gray. 



EXHIBITION OF HOKSES. 



Perhaps there has never been a more entertaining exhibition 

 presented the American public than that of the speed of 

 American horses ; but to me the most entertaining, as well as 

 instructive, amusement has been to watch the exhibition of the 

 best American-bred horses themselves, individually, when col- 

 lected together in sufficient numbers to make the comparison 

 — one with another — the most interesting. 



The first horse exhibition of this kind, of any importance, 

 held in this country took place at Springfield, Mass., in Octo- 

 ber, 1853, under the auspices of the City of Springfield and 

 the United States Agricultural Society. At that time about 

 five hundred of the best specimens of- various breeds and fam- 

 ilies of that period were placed on exhibition. 



Since then we may have had larger and better exhibitions ; 

 indeed, we undoubtedly have had such, but this goes on record 

 as the first national horse show of America, if not of the en- 

 tire world. 



