202 HACKS AND HUNTERS 



test their gaits and mouths. As I have already stated 

 elsewhere, English show horses are, as a general rule, 

 far better broken than those found in American rings, 

 nevertheless, inasmuch as nearly all English show 

 horses are thoroughbreds, the term "manners" is some- 

 what differently interpreted than with us. A horse is 

 expected to have a far more complete " school" educa- 

 tion, he must canter at a slow collected pace with 

 loose rein and arched neck, must change leads and 

 back, etc., and yet he is more often pardoned for a 

 little "playing up," or kicking, than with us, unac- 

 customed as we are to the thoroughbred saddle horse. 



In a jumping class at Olympia there are often as many 

 as 270 horses, and one class sometimes takes several 

 days to judge. The jumps are mostly local jumps, as 

 well as trick and fancy jumps; triple bars, double oxers, 

 railway gates, etc., which would require quite some 

 schooling over before an American horse could nego- 

 tiate them. They make the great mistake at Olympia, 

 as well as at the Ballsbridge show in Dublin, of hav- 

 ing no classes for hunters to jump. Their hunters 

 are not requested to jump and are judged purely on 

 conformation and type, and their jumpers are awarded 

 ribbons solely on their performance. It is well to bear 

 this fact in mind when buying a foreign horse. The 

 fact that he has won a first prize in a hunter class at 

 Olympia, or Ballsbridge, does not necessarily mean 

 that he has ever jumped a stick in his life. In addition 

 to the regular hunter and jumping classes at Olympia, 

 there are also most charming classes for children's 

 hunters, most of them clean-bred or well-bred animals, 

 ranging about 15 hands in height. 



At the Ballsbridge Horse Show in Dublin, which 

 lasts two weeks, and is the most famous hunter show 



