Schooling for Dublin Horse Show 



desires ... as hard as he can travel for the Water Jump ! 

 There is a low hedge at the take-off, so he cannot slip 

 into it, and the water is only a few inches deep, so he 

 is unlikely to come down. He skims over it as if it 

 were merely a potato furrow, although it is actually 

 fifteen feet wide ! 



Again the bit-pressure induces him to slacken speed. 

 His neck flexes, his stride shortens, he is travelling 

 almost on his toes, with all the pent-up energy of his 

 body concentrating about his powerful quarters and 

 hocks; he is approaching an obstacle whose successful 

 negotiation demands supreme effort and perfect timing 

 the Single Pole. With four or five feet of fresh air 

 between the ground and a naked single bar, a horse's 

 greatest difficulty is to know where to take off. His 

 steady approach is ideal, the ground is slippery, but he 

 is not slipping; he is inside the wings now, his hocks 

 come well under him and with a magnificent stag-like 

 bound he convincingly demonstrates that he is a worthy 

 entrant for Dublin Horse Show. 



With ordinary luck he should give a satisfactory 

 display over the Ballsbridge course. He has a fortnight 

 in which to improve. By then he should be as fit as 

 judicious schooling, careful exercise and intelligent 

 stable-management can make him. 



All over Ireland hundreds of people are thinking those 

 same thoughts. Hundreds of people wondering if they 

 should put strengthening bandages on forelegs; wonder- 

 ing if they should use a standing or a running martingale, 

 or neither; wondering if he has had too much schooling, 



