94 THE COMPLETE HORSEMAN 



ance in showing a horse than that he should turn 

 the corners of the ring without losing his balanced 

 action, and how is he to do this if he has not 

 proper training at home ? And this turning the 

 corner without being ' upset ' by it is as applicable 

 to the harness horse as the hunter. Nothing 

 is more liable to upset a horse's chance in the 

 show ring than his ' propping ' for a few strides 

 every time he turns a corner at speed, and we 

 should not see so much of it as we do if a little 

 more pains were taken in home training The 

 hunter should be specially trained in all his 

 paces : he should walk well ; he should be 

 taught to trot and canter in a collected manner ; 

 and above all he should be taught to gallop. 

 And he should be taught to go into any of his 

 paces from a walk, immediately he receives the 

 intimation from his rider. Another very import- 

 ant lesson is to make a good show in hand. 

 When it comes to a fine point the show in hand 

 is not infrequently decisive. 



Every opportunity should be taken to get a 

 stranger to ride the horse for a few minutes 

 when he is doing his work. It is a great point 

 that a horse should carry the judges well and 

 that he should do nothing in the way of tossing 

 his head about or playing up when a stranger 

 gets on to him. And he should stand still when 

 a stranger is about to mount him. These items, 

 though only apparently of small importance by 

 themselves make up a considerable aggregate, 

 which often have a decisive influence on the 



