THE SHOW HORSE 89 



dealers ; and that another one was bought on the 

 advice of a groom. 



The man who goes in for showing must reahse 

 that he cannot get the ordinary work out of a 

 horse, and keep on showing him year after year. 

 It is necessary that a horse should have rest some- 

 time ; and now-a-days, when showing is, as it 

 were, so specialised, if you keep on working your 

 horse hard out of the show season you will soon 

 find your prize winnings diminish. Some hunters, 

 I know, have been hunted, and well hunted, during 

 the season and have then come out and won a 

 prize or two in good company. I can call to mind 

 one that took a championship at a very important 

 show ; hut he did not go on winning, and his owner 

 wisely hunted him instead of showing him. But 

 as a rule hunters that are in the front rank as 

 show horses do not see much of hounds. They are 

 — some of them — taken out to see hounds — and 

 hunted for a few weeks but as has been pointed 

 out a few weeks' rest are necessary and the first of 

 the shows takes place in the early days of March. 

 So if a horse has to come out then his season will 

 naturally be a short one. But the show season 

 does not commence in real earnest till May, so 

 that the ordinary show hunter that is not wanted 

 for IsHngton can get a few weeks' hunting and 

 will be no worse for it. 



Perhaps a good plan to adopt with the ordin- 

 ary show hunter that is not wanted for Islington 

 is to let him have a few weeks' steady cub-hunting 

 to accustom him to hounds as soon as the show 



