580 
]?t'jiori on the Tforsps F.rlilhilrd at Whubor. 
Ci.ASS 39. Mares or Geldings above Fourteen hands two inches, and not 
exceeding Fifteen hands tioo inches. — This was a very good Class. 
Class 40. Ponif Marcs or Geldings above Thirteen hands and not exceed- 
ing Fourteen hands tico inches. — Only five put in an appearance : the Fiest 
and Seco\d Prize winners (re<;pectivfely No. 058, Mr. W. Pope's Magpie, 
and No. 5.jo, Mr. J. 11. Clifton'.s The Don) were very good animals. 
Class 41. Pong Mares or Geldings not e.vceeding Thirteen hands. — This 
Class contained tlie wonderful little mare, No. 5G6 (Mr. W. Pope's Fanny), 
jierliaps one of the finest goers in the Show. 
Geokge AYojtmvELL. 
JaJLBS llUTIIEKFOKD. 
CLEMEXT SxEPnENSON. 
Shire Horses. 
On coming to the heavy horses, one is face to face with those 
which were at the foundation of the horse section of the Royal 
Shows. Before the Society ever dreamed of giving a sixpence 
in prizes for hunters, hacks, or harness horses, the heavy horse 
had established himself in the prize list, and for some time 
had the field pretty nearly all to himself Indeed, a few sturdy 
agriculturists, who regard the heavy horses as the mainstay of 
farmers, and view hunters and steppers in the light of luxuries, 
were aggrieved, in their patriotism, that the light horses "were 
put first in this year's Catalogue. Possibly one scarcely recog- 
nises the wonders achieved by breeders until one inspects all 
the various breeds to be found in a horse shoAV ; and if the eye 
falls first on the diminutive pony, and then on the massive and 
gigantic Shire or Clydesdale, the spectator will be the better 
able to appreciate what breeders have done for our various types 
of horses. 
?]ach succeeding year, however, tends to show of what 
incalculable benefit to horse-breeding are the Societies which 
have, in recent years, been formed to guard with jealous care the 
interests of particular breeds. In early days, chivalry appears to 
have occupied the place now taken by the Shire, Clydesdale, and 
Suffolk Societies in farthering the breeding of heavy horses. 
Even for saddle-work the thirteen-stone or fourteen-stone hunter 
of to-day would have been of but little use to the man in 
armour, as compared with whom the Lifeguard sman riding 
about twenty stone, with all his " kit," is but a middle-weight. 
After the Norman Conquest, " rank had its responsibilities " ; 
and, in proportion to the extent of his lands, the " armiger of 
the eleventh century had to find a certain number of horses fit 
to carry a knight in armour. But breeding must have been 
carried on in a very haphazard fashion in those early times — 
though, possibly, in horse-breeding, as in other matters, our 
remote ancestors knew more than we give them credit for — and 
