576 
Feport on the Horses Exhibited at Windsor. 
hustled round the ring at a pace which if indulged in in the 
Row, except at the hour at which the " liver brigade " take 
horse exercise, would lead to an interview' with the magistrate 
of the district ? It will of course be urged that this is only- 
done to show the Judges what the horse's best pace is like ; but, 
on the other hand, one may ask why no show of manners is 
ever ventured upon. 
It may be admitted that the park hack may have action — 
extravagant action if the rider pleases — but he should also be 
temperate and handy, which, speaking broadly, comparatively 
few of the show hacks are. In short, action counts for too much, 
and manners for too little. Some years ago Mr. James Sudbury, 
of Norwich, was a regular exhibitor in hack classes, and his 
specialite, was well-mannered horses, with true, level action, but 
not particularly high. I think that the last one he exhibited 
was " Old Times," a bay. On him Mr. Sudbury, who must have 
ridden about sixteen stone, would trot round the ring at about 
six miles an hour, and would canter as slowly as five miles per 
hour. All the steppers went flashing by him at every stride, 
yet nothing upset "Old Times'" dignity. If I remember 
rightly, he was not very successful in taking prizes ; and of late 
years Mr. Sudbury has not shovvn at all. Yet it was not for 
a high-stepping tearaway horse that Mr. Anderson, the once 
famous dealer of Piccadilly, asked the late Sir Robert Peel an 
enormous price. It was for a staid weight-carrier with perfect 
manners ; and had Sir Robert paid the price it might have been 
well for him, as he eventually died through injuries sustained 
from a fall off a coarse, fidgety animal, purchased for him, for 
eighty-five guineas, by his friend Lord Ossington, then Mr. 
Denison. 
It might possibly be a move in the right direction if the 
conditions for hack classes were recast. On looking through 
some old catalogues I find " Hacks or roadsters — quality and 
action essential " (this is surely au impossible combination) ; 
" blood hacks and ladies' horses ; a class for hacks, cobs, and 
ponies ; hacks or covert hacks." Now a judge may well feel 
bewildered on finding himself expected to act under such vague 
orders. It might be better to state in the conditions whether 
the classes were for roadsters, i^ark hacks, covert hacks, or 
what; as the judges could then pass over any horse Avhich in 
their opinion did not answer to the requirements, whereas at 
present the conditions are wide enough to justify them in award- 
ing the First Prize to the grandest of all, regardless of the duties 
he may be called upon to perform. These points have been dealt 
with somewhat at length because it seems to the writer that 
