SHOWING SADDLE HORSES 177 



is the best way if the distance is less than 150 miles; 

 beyond that distance I think train travel, if the service 

 is good, is perhaps less tiring than an endless motor 

 journey over bumpy roads. 



Under most circumstances it is advisable for horses 

 to arrive at the show grounds a day, or even more, 

 before they are to exhibit, depending, of course, on 

 the length of their journey. 



Sending saddle horses to a show over the road is 

 not advisable; they are seldom in fit and hard con- 

 dition, as might be the case with jumpers or hunters, 

 are often laden down with heavy shoes, and any slight 

 loss of flesh is bound to count against them. 



On arriving, the horses should be at once attended 

 to, and, if chilled, given a drench of whiskey and quinine 

 and a hot mash that night. Some horses go off their 

 feed if obliged to drink hard water to which they are 

 not accustomed, in which case the water should be 

 softened with a few handfuls of bran. 



The stabling accommodations at a show should, in 

 the case of large shows, be reserved long before the 

 entries close, for the best ones are quickly snatched 

 up. It is not fair to expect adiorse accustomed to a 

 box stall to do his best, if he is required during the 

 week of the show, to adapt himself to a straight stall. 

 Whenever possible, it is wise to engage stalls in some 

 near-by private stable in preference to stabling one's 

 horses on the show grounds, where there is less quiet 

 and where they are more apt to contract diseases. 



One extra box stall should be reserved when pos- 

 sible in which to keep one's tack, and in which box the 

 groom should be persuaded to sleep to insure the safety 

 of the horses. Failing this, padlocks are a good sub- 

 stitute. The race-track is not the only home of crooks. 



