THE SHOW HORSE 91 



a little above himself. It is fatal to allow a 

 show horse to lose his courage though a good 

 hearty feeder will soon recover it. The gross 

 horse will also require more work than the 

 moderate ' doer ' and here is a matter which 

 requires close watching. It would mean a pro- 

 longed rest to allow a horse once to get stale 

 on his legs, and a heavy-topped horse as the 

 gross horse frequently is, puts a severe strain 

 on his limbs. It may possibly be necessary 

 to exercise him in heavier clothing than usual, 

 but this of course depends entirely on the circum- 

 stances attending each individual case. Person- 

 ally I do not like adopting the plan if it can be 

 avoided. 



The difficulties with a horse that is a moderate 

 ' doer ' are quite as great, though they are 

 very different in character. A horse that appears 

 very light in condition is as much ' out of the 

 picture ' as a horse that is too gross. Therefore 

 if a horse carries his condition badly it is impera- 

 tive that something should be done to improve 

 him in this respect. Otherwise he will not win 

 many prizes. He should have as much bulky 

 food as he can assimilate, and an occasional 

 feed of boiled peas will be found an excellent 

 means of improving his condition. His work 

 should also be comparatively light, and every 

 opportunity should be taken of securing him rest. 

 There is just the difficulty that if he is a very 

 high-couraged horse he may get too light-hearted 

 and be inclined to ' play up ' when he gets into 



