THE SHOW HORSE 95 



issue. And it is because there are such oppor- 

 tunities for practice in this direction that the 

 large estabhshments have such a pull in showing. 



The special training of the harness horse, 

 though it does not cover quite so many details is 

 none the less arduous than the training of the 

 hunter. There are some people, I am afraid 

 many people, who think that all that is necessary 

 to do to drive a horse in single harness is to sit 

 on the box, take the reins in both hands and 

 pull at them. They recognise in a vague sort of 

 way that four horses or a pair do need a certain 

 amount of skill to drive them, but they think 

 that anyone can drive a horse in single harness. 

 There can be no greater mistake, and the real 

 ' artists ' on the box are perhaps as few as they 

 are in the saddle. 



There is one thing the trainer of harness 

 horses has not to do. He has not to teach his 

 horse to ' stand ' the handling of another man. 

 Judges of the harness classes never do any 

 driving in the ring in their judicial capacity. But 

 he has two things to do, in addition to teaching 

 his horse to turn, which has already been referred 

 to, and these are teaching him to walk and 

 teaching him to trot slowly in a collected manner 

 so as to shov/ his style and action to their greatest 

 advantage. 



It is well whenever it is possible to accustom 

 all show horses to flags and other things which 

 they are likely to see when they are at shows and 

 to accustom them to the sounds which they are 



