144 THE HORSE BOOK. 



on full work, nor yet that all stallions could 

 so be made ready, but some of them can be 

 made ready on work enough to make it pay to 

 work them and others on tasks so little lessened 

 that the difference would be negligible. In 

 any case it is so much easier for a man to sit 

 upon a box and drive that the horses would 

 always get work enough to preserve that health- 

 ful vigor which is so essential to the propaga- 

 tion of the race in its best estate. 



However it often happens that a thin horse 

 is to be put in condition for the show ring and 

 the owner will not consider putting him to work. 

 The period of time which must intervene be- 

 tween the day on which he is taken up and the 

 day on which he will have to be sent into the 

 ring will have of course a material bearing on 

 the manner of feeding, and there is something 

 also in the number of chances an owner is will- 

 ing to take. Likewise there is much in the in- 

 dividual. I have known horses take a whole 

 year to get ready and then lose their show con- 

 dition in a week. There are some hard wooden 

 beasts that will never feed into show shape. On 

 the other hand there are some horses that it is 

 hard to keep out of show shape — in idleness. 

 It is, however, safe to say that on any reason- 

 ably big-framed horse from two years old up- 

 ward 500 pounds may be put on in six months 

 if he is so thin to start with that his ribs may be 

 distinguished. When a horse is idle he may be 



