586 Report upon the Exhibition of Horses at Kilhum. 
Hunters and Roadsters. 
" The great Serbonian bog, where," in Milton's words, " armies 
whole have sunk," came to the minds of those experienced in 
the operations of war, as they reflected upon what would have 
been the condition of the Kilburn Show-vard upon Thursday 
and Friday, had the ground been cut up during the first four 
days by the passage of cannons, caissons, and commissariat 
waggons. The hunters, and especially the weight-carriers, pro- 
fited more by the mud than any other class of horses exhibited, 
although it ought not to be forgotten that many a good run 
across country takes place in England when the ground is not 
heavier than at iSewmarket upon an ordinary Cesarewitch 
day. The most perfect animal shown in this department 
seemed, in my eyes, to be the Lincolnshire-bred bay mare, 
" Snowflake," the property of Mr. George Leighton, of Osgodby, 
near Scarborough. 
" Et vera incessu patuit dea" occurred to classical minds as a 
fitting description of this beautiful animal, which bore the blush- 
ing honours of many a previous triumph in the prize-ring thick 
upon her, to which she added another when the Judges attached 
the red riband to her head-stall without a dissentient voice. 
The class of " Hunters up to 15 stone," with twenty-four entries, 
was pronounced by Colonel Luttrell, Mr. J. B. Booth, and 
Mr. Hill — than whom it would not have been easy to find three 
more competent judges — as being " a good lot and out of the 
common ;" nor was there any disposition among the many 
critical performers in the saddle who looked on to question their 
verdict. The weight-carrying hunters came from many different 
counties, but the North carried away the principal honours with 
Mr. Forster's " King John," from Northumberland, first ; with 
Mr. Cecil Legard's " Blacklock," from 1 orkshire, second : and 
with Mr. Andrew Brown's " Gambler," also from Yorkshire, 
which was commended. It is not, indeed, improbable, that 
Mr. FitzOldaker's bay gelding by " Voltigeur," which took the 
third prize, was also, to judge from his sire, raised in the INjorth, 
but his breeder is unknown. Considering the value attached 
by wealthy owners of weight-carriers to their favourite hunters, 
it was hardly reasonable to expect that many of these gentlemen 
would risk their much-prized darlings in a show-yard, and 
therefore the class was undoubtedly not worthy of the occasion. 
Mr. Booth, after riding most of the hunters round the ring, 
pronounced that no horse carried him through the mud with 
so much power as " King John," although to some eyes he hardly 
seemed to "get away" in his action so well as Mr. Legard's 
