250 The Hunting Field With Horse and Hound 



have been parting too freelj^ with the goose that lays the golden 

 egg, and to keep up the supply, we fear they have fallen into 

 evil ways. There are a great many very high class animals 

 to be seen at the Dublin show and, with the weedy hacks and 

 harness types thrown out, it is still the greatest show of the 

 kind in the world, and ought to be included in the sights worth 

 seeing by every American visitor, who happens to be in Great 

 Britain at the time. Nevertheless, barring mere numbers, 

 there are more high class hunters to be seen at the great York- 

 shire show in England than in Dublin. 



Not the least amusing part of an American's experience 

 in Ireland will be the buying of a hunter, especially if he goes 

 as a stranger among some of the breeders, or smaller "Job- 

 masters," as the dealers are called. 



We were well advised in this respect before we started out. 

 We cannot do better, perhaps, in bringing this chapter to a 

 close, than repeat in substance sufficient of the horse talk that 

 usually accompanies such a sale. 



"Can she jump?" "Is it leap that ye mean, faith and a 

 house would not stop her if ye have the courage to jDut her 

 at it." "What's her breeding?" "Is it a pedigi-ee that yer 

 wanting?" "Yes, bedad, she has and two of them. Her father 

 was by Erin Gabrah and he's got a pedigree that long a book 

 couldn't hold it." "And his dam?" "Yes, and that's what 

 I'm telling j^e, his dam was the best mare in Ireland, won no 

 end of races, so she did, and her father and mother before 

 her, since the days of the ark." "Did she come over in the 

 ark?" "Faith, if any horse ever did, it was her or her father. 

 Have a lad up, or try her j^erself for a turn about the pasture. 

 A child of three years could ride her and a silk thread would 

 never break for the holding of her and yer couldn't make her 

 do wrong to save yer soul." The mare was saddled, and it was 

 evident she had little or no experience at all; in fact, she was 

 but four past, and in all probability had not been ridden a 



