HORSES AND STABLES 253 



by no means of the accepted show-ring type. It is true 

 that hundreds, probably thousands, of really high-class 

 hunters have received notice at the shows, but a great 

 deal more than make and shape, manners, and an apti- 

 tude for galloping round a show-ring are wanted in the 

 outfit of a perfect hunter, and some of the necessary 

 qualifications cannot be discovered by looking at a 

 horse or trying his paces. Constitution, for example, 

 must be forthcoming in every horse which is required 

 to come out once a week or oftener, and though a good 

 guess at what a horse's constitution is likely to be can 

 be made when he is carefully examined, this cannot be 

 really determined until the horse is doing hard and 

 regular work. 



Horse shows no doubt suggest the type which breed- 

 ers of hunters should aim at, but the horse who wins in 

 a show-yard is not necessarily a good hunter ; and this 

 reminds one of a certain master of hounds who was 

 asked to support the hunter classes at a local show. 

 He was by no means keen on exhibiting, but so much 

 pressure was brought to bear on him that he sent two 

 or three entries. In an open heavy-weight class he 

 showed his best horse — a magnificent hunter of great 

 constitution, a horse who could gallop fast all day 

 long, who could jump five feet of timber from a trot, 

 who could fly a big brook or creep through a tangled 

 fence — a perfect hunter, in fact, who was used by his 

 owner when hunting hounds in his best country. He 

 also, on the suggestion of his stud groom, showed a 

 six-year-old gelding which he had bred himself, but 

 which was at the moment one of the bad tickets of the 

 stable. This horse had good looks, but nothing would 

 induce him to jump, though he had been fairly forced 

 through fences by a rough rider. Neither could he 



