FITTING FOR SHOW. 143 



for any cause, forced into absolute idleness, cut 

 off the grain altogether. 



There is no reason why stallions should not 

 be given their exercise in the harness and yet be 

 sent into the ring ready to the minute. The crack 

 geldings of Armour, Morris, Swift or Pabst got 

 their work in the leather — ^not much it is true, 

 but enough to make and keep them handy — and 

 I have never seen stallions shown in better fet- 

 tle. We need more strength and virility in our 

 stallions. I know that the advocacy of such 

 methods of fitting for show will sound strange 

 tO' many of the old school in which I was brought 

 up, but I can not close my eyes to the accom- 

 plished facts presented to my view. When I 

 have seen the Armour and other geldings sweep- 

 ing around the arena at all gaits from the state- 

 ly walk to the keen run for an hour at a time — a 

 feat that none of the stallions shown could ac- 

 complish—and each individual gelding in as 

 high flesh as any of the entires fitted without 

 work, I have learned that the best way to pre- 

 pare horses for the arena is not in idleness 

 but in the harness. I know that it would be 

 practically impossible for the importers to fit 

 all their stallions as suggested, but that does 

 not lessen the force of my contention that it 

 would be vastly better for the horses themselves 

 and for the men who buy them if they would. 

 I do not wish to be understood as saying that 

 the great geldings are made ready for showing 



