The decades following the Civil War marked economic boom times in America, a period of unbridled consumerism for those who could afford it and a period of opportunity for people at all economic levels. During the Gilded Age, horses of every class and type reached an apogee of usefulness in America: Nearly everyone owned at least one, and they performed all the work of transportation, agriculture and “supply chain” now performed by cars, taxis, trucks, buses, trains, airplanes and yes, even UPS and Amazon Prime. Door-to-door delivery is not a new thing; it’s an old thing—in that era, most homes in a town or village took daily delivery of milk, eggs, meat and bread, and weekly delivery of household sundries such as candles, twine and soap as well as ice, firewood and coal.
In that bygone day, horse shows were not mere showcases with outcomes skewed by fads, personalities and status seeking. Shows featuring horses under saddle, in harness, and in what was called “the combination ring” for ride-and-drive horses grew to be large affairs with big, well-contested classes and big audiences as well, many of whom came with a view to purchasing a horse—not necessarily to show him, but for personal pleasure or family use. Placements mattered—and not just for purposes of wagering, but to the federal government and the army because, as with many commodities, the quality of the lowest common denominator rises when the top product undergoes improvement.
Improvement in quality, durability, conformation, athletic capability and temperament occurred because show winners were not evaluated superficially, but thoroughly; and not by people who learned which contestants to prize by scanning advertisements in a highly-colored magazine, but by real judges of horseflesh who were cavalry officers, veterinarians, professors of hippology, expert riders or drivers, or longtime breeders—men who knew good bone structure and superior movement when they saw it. Hear the voice of H.S. Burnham, a Missouri horseman retired to Houston, Texas, writing in 1932: “Though but a small boy at the time, in the middle and late eighties, I possessed a love for horses which amounted to a passion [and] I distinctly
