386 Report of the Stewards of Stock at the Battersea Show. 
wliicli the prizes were lately awarded. What, after all, are the chief requisites 
for a hunter ? Power, endurance, and action. If we lose sight of these qualities, 
we cannot expect to breed a marketable article. 
" The premiums given for hunting-mares and geldings brought a good many 
to the show, but, in my judgment, not of the highest class; still as many of 
them realized high prizes, I hope their owners were compensated for their 
trouble in exhibiting them. 
" The carriage-horses and roadsters are two classes which want all the 
encouragement the Society can afford them ; for, unlike the thorough-bred 
horse, which is universally patronized in the highest quarters, these greatly 
depend upon the prizes given by the Eoyal Agricultural Society and other 
local meetings. I do not think they were so well represented as I have often 
seen in the north of England ; and I am inclined to recommend that the 
prizes given to the Pony classes should be taken from them and added to the 
classes for carriage and roadster stallions and mares. It is all very well to 
give prizes for ponies when the meetings are held in the Welsh or hill districts. 
Even then (as they belong more strictly to the vicinity) they should be 
encouraged by local prizes, as has beeu done on several occasions. At a 
meeting hke the late one, money was quite wasted when given for ponies under 
12^ hands high. So bad was the class of pony geldings in Class III. that the 
Judges for some time withheld the prizes altogether ; and in Classes I., II., 
for ponies imder 12J hands high, the 35?. which was given away was pretty 
nearly the value of the lot exhibited. A very jiretty stallion, bred at Emmett's 
Grange, got the prize, but the prize even here was more than the value of the 
pony ; and in the class for mares, the little things which were deemed worthy 
of the prizes were most ordinary. Again, in the class for ponies above 12^ 
and under 14 hands, no animal was shown at all above the most average 
standard of merit. The dun pony which gained the first prize was a useful 
pony, and the chesnut which was second was a nice blood hack rather than a 
poiiy. On these considerations, I feel sure that 101. might safely be trans- 
ferred to the more useful classes of hunters, roadsters, and carriage-horses. I 
should recommend 30/. for the first prize for roadsters, and the same for 
carriage-horse stallions. One prize of 201. might still be kept for pony stal- 
lions above 13 hands, as it would include what are called cobs. The prizes 
given to carriage-horses fell to the lot of two horses bearing a different stamp. 
The first prize was gained by a very strong-legged horse by ' Pottinger.' He 
was of the stamp so desirable to preserve — long, low, and wide. The second 
prize horse, perhaps, showed more qualitj', but was hardly as suitable for the 
purpose. 
" In the Hackney class, it was quite a study to see the different style and 
breeding of the animals exhibited. Two thorough-breds were put into it, 
which was quite a mistake on the part of the owners. 
" The horse called ' a roadster ' is too apt to degenei'ate into a coarse, heavy- 
necked, harness sort of horse ; whereas our chief aim should be to get a short- 
legged, strong, and at the same time wiry, animal, with a perfect forehand, 
and plenty of quality about the head and hind-quarters, and not less than 14 
hands high. The winner in this class answered to a good many of these 
requisites, though not entirely. They were all too much of harness-horses ; 
the second especially, though a very useful horse for any district. A roan 
horse in this class, which did not gain a prize, had much to recommend him. 
I am very anxious to draw as mucli attention as possible to this class, being 
convinced that the time is come when we can scarcely obtain any good 
specimens of the old-fashioned long and low hackney. 1 have now run ovei', 
though very briefly, the chief points which struck me in the late Agricultural 
Meeting. I trust that the Society will continue to encourage as much as pos- 
sible all the horse classes, with the exception of those for ponies. They, as I 
