MISTAKEN AWARDS AT HORSE-SHOW, DUBLIN \\ 



but well set on ; indeed, better heads could hardly 

 be. I have seen judges at horse-shows display- 

 much ignorance, and I have noticed that the awards 

 have been wrongly bestowed on one or two occasions 

 at Dublin, prizes having been given to horses which 

 I well knew to be not only inferior hunters, but 

 unsound, and possessing perhaps but some one or 

 two points worthy of recommendation ; and on one 

 occasion the judges passed over one of the most 

 magnificent and most perfectly-shaped fourteen-stone 

 hunters ever seen in Ireland. 



It would appear that the knowledge of one or two 

 fashionable points is at times sufficient to qualify a 

 judge for one of the most difficult duties, many 

 hundreds of first-class horses competing for the highest 

 honours. 



But very few owners, even those of the largest 

 studs, really understand what is the balance of shape 

 and the points which are necessary to make a horse 

 perfect when properly educated, and many judges are 

 quite mistaken when they trust only to the eye for 

 measurement. Such measurement must be at times 

 but guesswork. A man may be * out of form ' from 

 many causes, or his sight may deceive him, particularly 

 in the later years of his life ; and when it becomes a 

 close thing between horses, measurement should be 

 resorted to. An old friend of mine, who had only 

 one eye, often noticed at the first glance many a 

 fault in a horse which had taken me some time to dis- 

 cover. The friend I refer to was Professor Ferguson, 

 H.M. veterinary surgeon in Dublin. 



A breeder must remember that, even with the 

 expenditure of both time and money, he has still to 



