556 Report on the Hofses 'Exhibited at Windsor, 
" took " ; their numbers increased, and, as soon as evet it 
appeared wortb while, owners were found to devote themselves 
more or less exclusively to showing horses in any place at which 
prizes of sufficient value were to be competed for. It is impos- 
sible to deny that one result of the multiplicity of horse shows, 
and the calling into being of the regular exhibitor, has been to 
cause a number of horses to be dedicated to show purposes only. 
After an open season, when the terrible firing-iron, charges, 
blisters, and embrocations are common objects of most stables in 
which the bond fide hunter is found, the show hunter steps 
forth with legs as fine as a foal's ; there is scarcely a windgall 
to be seen ; no honourable scars indicate that he has run foul of 
wire, rapped his knees against an oaken rail, been staked, or 
even allowed his master to hang on by his spurs. High in 
flesh, as fresh as a four-year-old, and unblemished, the show 
hunter, indeed, emphasises the fact that to succeed in an under- 
taking one must devote oneself to it alone. Some exceptions 
there are of course, and among horses that have been regularly 
hunted "Tommy Giles" deserves mention, as in 1888, and 
during the past season, he has met with many successes in the 
show ring. Still, it is a fact well known to those conversant 
with horse shows, that some of the horses who have borne away 
no end of rosettes would be anything but confidential convey- 
ances over a country. In fact, it is an open secret that two of the 
grandest horses that have caught the eyes of Judges during the 
past ten years have been worse than useless in the field. The 
same is true of hacks, a certain number of which do no road 
work to speak of. 
The fact of prizes going to hunters which are not fairly 
ridden to hounds, and to hacks and roadsters which have never 
done a real day's work in their lives, is often the basis of an 
indictment against horse shows ; but, in the humble opinion of the 
writer, the charge that horse shows do not encourage the breed- 
ing of horses cannot be sustained. One must discriminate between 
encouraging the use of a horse, and encouraging the breeding of 
him. Confining our remarks for the present to hunters, hacks, 
and harness horses, one of the most frequent complaints of 
breeders has been that they have had to wait so long before they 
turned over their money, and that while they were making a 
hunter, or breaking a hack or harness horse, some accident 
often occurred which reduced the value of their property by 
about 50 per cent. Now, given the existence of a shapely 
yearling or two-year-old, good-looking enough, that is to say, to 
stand a fair chance of winning prizes at shows, the breeder need 
not long stand out of his money. The practice of including at 
