SHOW HORSES MUST BE VERY FIT

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30287, 13 November 1963, Page 28

SHOW HORSES MUST BE VERY FIT

The first requirement any competitor must have to take part in any of the hack classes or especially the hunting events at the show is a horse which is completely fit. As with all other classes of livestock which compete at the show, no horse will l>e successful without many weeks and months of constant preparing and training. Careful feeding and grooming are also essential requirements.

One of Canterbury’s leading horsewomen, Mrs B. G. Rutherford, of Waikari, has enjoyed many successes in both show jumping and hack events over a long period of years. But to achieve this, she has to put a great many hours of work and

preparation into the horses which she shows. Usually Mrs Rutherford has five horses in her show team and sometimes six. However, this year her team will comprise only two horses. In the normal course of events she enters them in both the hunter and hack classes at shows throughout the province. In the preparation of her horses, Mrs Rutherford thinks a good conformation in the horse is one of the first essentials and this must be supplemented by regular feeding of the animals, regular work for them and plenty of common sense on the part of the rider. To get a horse, which is in good physical condition, ready for show competition usually takes in the vicinity of three months. However, a horse which is in poor condition may take as long as 12 months before it is in sufficiently good shape to take part in competition work. Mrs Rutherford starts her training programme to her horses towards the end of August or early in September, with the aim of having them ready to compete in the Christchurch show. When the horses are brought in they have not been ridden for about three months and in some cases more. Also during the winter months they have been covered, and have lived on a chaff and hay diet. The horses’ coats, which at this stage of the- season are usually long and dull, are clipped all over. Once this is done, Mrs Rutherford walks the horses over the hills, usually riding one and leading another, for half an hour each day. For a week, this practice is continued and the time is then increased from half an hour a day to an hour a day.

Careful attention is paid to the animals’ diet, which is a most important factor in the preparation. Chaff, bran and molasses are among the items on the horses’ menus, although the diet does vary, depending on the constitution of the horse. After three weeks of walking exercises on the hills, which really tones up the horses’ muscles, Mrs Rutherford then has the animals trotting up quite steep hills. After more careful feeding, at 6 a.m. every morning and 3 p.m. every afternoon, a great deal of grooming, schooling in jumpink and manners, the horses are ready for the show.