MARKETS AND SHOWS 297 



should be put to appropriate vehicles; appointments may or may 

 not count, as indicated in the class requirements. Harness and 

 saddle horses should be either driven or ridden well into the 

 comers of the ring, in order to go as much of the route as pos- 

 sible straight away. 



Exhibitors are at all times subject to the direction of the 

 ring master, who acts under the instructions of the judges. Con- 

 testants, not in the short leet or disqualified for any reason, are 

 dismissed from the ring or " given the gate." 



HORSE MAEKETS 



Commerce is the interchange of commodities, and the market 

 is the medium for this. The exchange takes place between the 

 producer on the one hand and the consumer on the other, market 

 values being detemiined by the balance maintained between the 

 amount produced and the amormt consumed. Consumption be- 

 ing fixed, over-production bears or depresses the market while 

 under-production will bring about an increase in market values. 

 With a given amount produced, excessive consumption bulls or 

 increases market values, while a. decrease in the demand from 

 the consumer will have an opposite effect ou values. 



The demand of the consumer not only determines market 

 values, but also the character of the product for which the top 

 price can be secured. Therefore, while both the producer and 

 the consumer are concerned in maintaining the strength of the 

 market and with the character of the product^ involved, it is the 

 consimier who really rules. This is a most important fact for 

 the horse breeder to realize. 



The Breeder and the Market. — ^Unfortunately there is a dif- 

 ference between horse breeding and the production of market 

 horses. Too many breeders operate independently or in total 

 ignorance of market conditions and requirements. Their ideal of 

 a market horse is both single and selfish and does not comprehend 

 type or class distinction. It is not unusual to find an owner 

 sacrificing a colt which has some real outcome in a market class 

 for which the demand is strong but of which the owner knows 

 nothing, while trying to secure his price for one of whose value 



