The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



training for jumping in saddle. It is quite 

 helpful to do the jumping in hand and in 

 saddle on alternate days, and it stimulates 

 Disciple's intelligence and judgment. As soon 

 as he becomes proficient in both, it is a good 

 thing to have a few spectators to begin to 

 accustom Disciple to the ordeal of the crowd, 

 which he will have to face at the local Show. 

 Get the spectators to make a little noise, and, 

 as it is sure to put him off his jumping, see that 

 the jumps are very low. By degrees he will 

 take less notice of the noise, and as he gets 

 accustomed to it, put the jumps a little higher. 

 Finally he won't trouble his head about the 

 spectators at all, and will jump in his best 

 form. Do not be disappointed, however, if 

 at his first or second Show he is entirely off 

 his jumping. Enter him for as many events 

 as possible — ^for musical chairs and anything 

 else open to him — just to get him accustomed 

 to the crowds and their little ways. But the 

 ordeal at the Agricultural Hall is ten times 

 worse than anything he will have to face in the 

 summer Shows in the open air. The roof and its 

 reverberations, the blaze of electric lights, the 

 galleries, the arena itself with its fringe of heads, 

 the applause and laughter, the unaccustomed 

 appearance of the jumps, the excited neighing of 

 the stalhons, and above all, the thrilling per- 

 formances of the band have a most unsettling 

 effect upon an animal up for the first time. 



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