Report of the Stewards of Stock at the Batter sea Show. 385 
It miglit be advisable, if the pony classes were retained, to 
raise the standard in each to 14i and 13 hands. Several ponies 
were sold at high prices : one at 150 guineas, two at 100 guineas 
each, two at 60 guineas, two at 50 guineas, 6cc. Such being the 
case, it would not be Avise to discontinue giving prizes. 
Another Judge says : — 
" It may perhaps be as well in this Report to take in order the classes of 
horses which came under my observation, and I regret to say that (with the 
exception of the Suflblks) they did not come up to the high standard of merit 
which an All-England show and the value of the prizes given warranted ; nor 
do I think that the classes generally equalled those of the previous meeting at 
Leeds. This is the more to be regretted, as the accommodation provided for 
them was as good as possible, and owners had not, as on former meetings, to 
fear the risks and exposure to the weather. The criticisms and judgment of 
the public, and a twice-a-day exhibition of Iiorses in the ring, added much to 
the attraction, and also I feel sure, from the constant crowds in the horse-yard, 
to the pecuniary benefit of the Society. One regulation, however, remains to 
be altered, since it forms one of the ^jrincipal reasons which deter many 
owners, especially farmers, from sending their horses. I allude to the annoy- 
ance felt by the exhibitors in having their horses submitted to the searching 
scrutiny of the veterinary surgeon, and their too often consequent disparage- 
ment and rejection. I contend that the Judges, if properly selected, ought to 
be able to discriminate and determine what is and what is not fit to pass, 
without previous inspection by a veterinary surgeon. If, however, the Judges 
arc at fault, then let the Society's veterinary surgeon be at hand for them to 
appeal to. The adoption of this arrangement would, I am sure (from the many 
complaints of the present one which have reached me), greatly increase the 
show both of stallions and also of horses exhibited for the saddle or for harness 
purposes. Owners of stallions and farmers will not send their horses to be 
crabbed and consequently lowered in value because tliey cannot pass a strict 
veterinary inspection, whereas when they are submitted only to those appointed 
to be their judges, if the prize is withheld from them, it is to be presumed there 
is a sufficiently valid reason, and the horse in question returns home without 
losing caste or being proclaimed a screw. Many a horse may be most suitable 
for the hard tasks imposed on him in the field and on the road, and yet may 
have hocks disposed to curbs, or fore-legs to splents : still I do not see that such 
a horse should be summarilv and at once rejected. 
" If the 100?. prize did not succeed in collecting together the cream of the 
studs in England, as one could wish to see, still the two w'hich gained the first 
and second prizes were undoubtedly the most fitted for ' perpetuating the breed 
of the sound and the stout thorough-bred horse.' The prizes for the best 
hunting stallion failed in attracting either as large or as high a class as might 
have been hoped for. The horses which gained the first and second prizes both 
had a stain in their pedigi-ee, yet was tlie Judges' fiat confirmed by the opinion 
of most of the spectators. In this I find that tliey agi'eed with some opinions 
which I ventured to express in my review of the horse-classes at the Eoyal 
Agricultural Canterbury Show, and which opinion met with no small opposi- 
tion at the time in the pages of Bell's Life. I am still of the same opinion that 
a good, strong, and bony hunter, with a stain, is more calculated to get weight- 
carriers and serviceable riding-horses than the generality of those thorough- 
breds which infest our country districts and propagate an unsound and worthless 
race. I have held over and, over again that the thorough-bred horse with 
action and substance is far preferable in every point of view to any other ; but 
failing in that, I prefer a style of horse for getting hunters similar to those to 
VOL. XXIII. 2 c 
