THE MODEL SADDLE HORSE 39 



horses win in the ring only because the rider happens 

 to be an old hand at the game and can camouflage 

 their faults from the judges, but in no sense of the 

 word are they really broken. 



In referring to my experience in England, I do not 

 for a moment wish to imply that riding a horse prior 

 to a show is unnecessary. On the contrary, even in 

 this case I think that "Turquoise" would have gone 

 even better, if that were possible, had he and I been 

 acquainted longer. But what I do want to emphasize 

 is that if the horse is really "made," any riding prior 

 to a show is merely supposed to be an introduction of 

 horse and rider and not a gruelling lesson in the rudi- 

 ments of saddle work. 



Horses, broken as well as "Turquoise," are, of course, 

 rare in any country, but they are more apt to be found 

 in England than here, and still more apt to be found 

 in France. The Englishman, on the whole, is a hunt- 

 ing and racing man, and pays less attention to the 

 making of so-called "school" horses than the French 

 officer who has reduced it to a science. For although 

 the French civilians, on the whole, are not horsemen, 

 the militaire of France are responsible for some of the 

 most highly finished horses in the world. Even F. 

 Vivian Gooch, who holds the palm among English 

 horsemen in the art of making a saddle horse, will 

 admit, I am sure, that he owes many of his methods to 

 the French; and I think that any one who has ever 

 seen an exhibition of horsemanship by the picked 

 officers of Saumur will agree that it is a sight long to 

 be remembered and difficult, if not impossible, to 

 equal anywhere. 



Not all of us can hope to possess a horse broken by 

 a Saumur officer, a Colonel Feline, or a Mr. Gooch, 



