Waif Pony, Prize Winner
Spider, Once an Outcast, Makes Hit of National Horse Show.
The hit of the recent national horse show at New York was made by a little pony named Spider, once an outcast and with pedigree and breeding lost in the dim shades of the past, says the New York World.
Spider's history and his triumph in the ring--for it was a triumph for a pony of unknown breeding to give the champion Doncaster Model a hard rub for first honors and finally get away with the red ribbon--recalls the attempt of that practical joker, Brian G. Hughes, to take a blue ribbon with a reformed street car horse. Hughes once entered a horse that had formerly drawn a street car. He had fattened and groomed it and given it the aristocratic name of "Puldeka Orphan," which, when spoken rapidly, sounded suspiciously like "Pulled a car often."
Spider went in under no high sounding name. He was entered with pedigree unknown, and his history was truthfully stated. When in action he was picked by Marion Story, who judged the ponies, as the winner over Doncaster Model, considered to be the best harness and saddle pony in the world, a blue ribbon winner in both England and America.
Spider did not show so well at rest and was given the red ribbon, which greatly pleased little Lorena Carroll, the three-year-old maiden who owns him and who drove him to her governess cart in the ring.
Spider is barely forty inches high. Joseph D. Carroll of the Fiss, Doer & Carroll Horse company saw him one Sunday morning as he was being driven through Twenty-fourth street, in New York. He was attached to a peddler's cart and was driven by some boys who were making money out of him by letting east side children ride him a block for a penny. One of Carroll's men followed the boys and obtained the pony by paying $200. He was given to Lorena, Mr. Carroll's young daughter.
When she drove him into the ring her father told her to get the blue ribbon. She replied that she didn't like blue, that she wanted red. And she got what she wanted. Mr. Carroll wouldn't take $500 for Spider now.
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Old News
Ann Arbor Argus-Democrat