Chapter XVIII 



SHOWING HORSES 



TO successfully handle horses in the 

 show ring implies a contest of intelli- 

 gence between judges and exhibitors, 

 in which the officials make every 

 effort to discover imperfections of manners, gait, 

 etc., while the " nagsmen " try their best not 

 only to display their charges to advantage, but to 

 conceal or modify all short-comings. Amateurs 

 to this extent, strive to emulate professionals, 

 and adopt methods which, in their own investiga- 

 tions as purchasers, they are prone to resent 

 upon the part of the purveyors, and to consider 

 proper in the arena, artifices which they denounce 

 in the sale stable. As this is proper — or if this 

 is allowable — in the former case, it certainly 

 should not be condemned in the latter, and if 

 attempts to hoodwink the judicial eye are toler- 

 ated, the hackneyed motto " Caveat emptor " de- 

 mands equal respect. As showman or salesman, 



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