HORSE SHOWS AND REMOUNTS 415 



to be there with an incompetent one ; and the less he knows 

 the more Ukely he is to be unconvinceable ! Some judges 

 have special fads, and the moment they see their favourite 

 weakness they will look at nothing else. There are very 

 few judges I have ever met whom I would ask to buy me 

 a horse, from their inspection and without having seen it 

 for myself, although I have had the pleasure of knowing 

 one or two whose word I should take without the slightest 

 hesitation. Certainly any mistakes made, particularly at 

 the great Shows, are honest ones, and not from any ulterior 

 motive ; but it is to be feared that this is not always the case at 

 small local Shows, where the judges are chosen from amongst 

 the neighbours. An amusing and instructive instance of this 

 occurred to me two j^ears ago when out shooting with a 

 friend in the West of England. A tenant of his had just 

 won a third prize at a local Show, and as we passed his 

 house I expressed a desire to see the animal, which the 

 owner was delighted to bring out for our inspection. It 

 was a very nice animal, and I complimented him on having 

 bred such a good-looking one, and at the same time remarked 

 that the two placed in front of it must have been very good 

 indeed to have beaten it in their places. " Oh no," he 

 replied, " this one is much the best ; " and then added con- 

 fidentially, "You see, sir, I am only a poor man, and I 

 couldn't afford to give the judge more than five shillings, 

 so I was bound to be beaten by they two." The curious 

 part, to my mind, was that he seemed perfectly satisfied, and 

 appeared to think that it was the ordinary way at Shows — 

 a comment indeed on the habits and customs of that part 

 of the West ! 



When first I had the honour to officiate in the judging- 

 ring, more than thirty years ago, it was the usual practice 

 to desire those who had no chance of being selected for a 

 prize to leave the ring at once, and in the huge classes we 

 had to adjudicate upon at Dublin it made the judge's task 

 easier by quickly reducing the numbers, thus enabling the 

 attention to be concentrated on the few who remained. It 

 was soon recognised, however, to be an invidious thing to 

 do, for it was not pleasant for those who were the earliest 



