134 THE HOKSE BOOK. 



mean defeat. Thin horses can not win. Poorly 

 shown horses meet defeat. Fierce rivalry com- 

 mands that the judges consider naught but that 

 which is presented before them. Therefore the 

 first essential is to put the show horses onto 

 the tanbark as fit as hands can make them and 

 to that condition an overload of flesh is the 

 prime essential. Flesh covers a multitude of 

 faults. It would serve no good purpose to dis- 

 cuss the question of so overloading show 

 horses ; the fact remains that it must be done. ' 

 Nor must the exhibitor think that all he has 

 to do is to put his horses into the ring good and 

 fit and the ribbons will come of themselves. 

 Ethically they should; actually they will not. 

 Of late years there has been a marked advance 

 in the personnel and work of the judges, but 

 there are practical politics in the show ring 

 just as there are in everyday life. It is a highly 

 specialized type of politics at that and as in 

 all political strife no one can afford to overlook 

 even a single trivial point. An exhibitor to get 

 quite all that is coming to him must not only 

 get up into the ^^push" but he must be of the 

 * ^ push. ' ' He can only get there by showing his 

 stuff with just that extra touch of finish that 

 compels recognition and the while remaining 

 content to persevere in his novitiate as a good 

 sportsman should. There is nothing Utopian 

 or altruistic about the American show ring. A 

 novice at the game must fight for what he gets 



