She Ain't What She Used To Be

In the pre-horsepower days when practically everybody had a horse--and everybody who was anybody had them by the dozen--the opening night of the National Horse Show was the official kick-off of Manhattan's social season. Last week it happened for the 79th time, but the social season was off and running anyway, and the turnout of bluebloods, beauties and big shots was not what it used to be. And gleaming there in the Madison Square Garden lobby was the symbol of what had changed things, in the form of a sleek 1963-model automobile.

In fact, the Horse Show has gone commercial. The saddle shops are no more, and the hot-dog stands have been crowded by a baroque decor setting off displays of sponsors' products.

Macy's made its centerpiece a 50-year-old, horse-drawn delivery wagon. Riders competed not only for the Schaefer (beer) Working Hunter Stake, the Scandinavian Airlines International Jumping Stake, the Revlon Special Jumper's Trophy, but--final irony--the Imperial (Chrysler) Challenge Trophy for jumpers. And the $800 boxes around the arena did not have the same dazzle of high society and high fashion that opening night once had.

Quarter a Throw. There were some white ties, of course, and a few top hats, such as that on New Jersey's horsy sportsman, Amory L. Haskell. There was some glitter of jewels, such as the diamond-decorated egg-sized emeralds on tiny Mitzi Newhouse, wife of Publisher Samuel Newhouse (see PRESS). There were a few chic and social standouts, such as golden-haired Mrs. Winston ("Ceezee") Guest, who rode in a working hunter class in the afternoon, then appeared for the evening opening in a simple black sheath topped by a shocking-pink jacket. There was a scattering of celebrities, such as New York's Mayor Robert Wagner, Banker David Rockefeller, Actresses Zsa Zsa Gabor and Beatrice Lillie, and Playbore John Jacob Astor. But in general the crowd was so mousy that one society columnist was reduced to noting that ''one of the smartest dresses was a long wool plaid with jacket, on a nameless lady.''

It was a long way from the social prestigiousness of the 1880s, when Louis Keller is said to have compiled the first edition of the Social Register largely by culling the National Horse Show Association membership list. Its first site was a dismal railroad terminal, which William K. Vanderbilt bought and later converted for the use of the newly formed National Horse Show Association. On the first opening night, in 1883, urchins ran conducted tours of the upper-crusted boxes for a quarter a throw, while the elite thrilled to races between fire engines and competitions between mounted policemen in stopping runaway horses.

Touch of Rodeo. But if 1962's opening audience was not memorable, the show they saw was livelier than any in years. Energetic Lawyer James A. Thomas Jr., 38, the show's new president, who used to be an outstanding contestant himself, cut the running time by starting the jumps higher; opening-night suburbanites could watch U.S. Team Captain William Steinkraus win the nerve-stretching ''Democrat'' Memorial Challenge Trophy* and still catch the midnight train home. Thomas also pepped up the show with a rodeo touch: cowgirls racing quarter horses around a cloverleaf barrel course. Another innovation almost anyone could have anticipated: a class for Shetland ponies. No entry named Macaroni though.

*Named not for Democrats, but for the first U.S. Army-trained jumper, Democrat, who died in 1958 at the age of 25.

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