Horses I’ve Known (And Wish I Hadn’t)

The American Kennel Club has numerous programs designed to test dogs in the field, chief among them being field trials and hunt tests for retrievers, pointing breeds, and flushing spaniels. Since pointers tend to run big, judges for these events do their judging from horseback, or else the judges would likely be tripping on their tongues after the second brace (pair) of dogs had run. And therein lies the problem. While some judges bring their own horses, the sponsoring club also provides horses for the judges and the marshal. Bringing my own horse was not an option for me because we couldn’t make him “bomb proof”. If he’d been a dog, we’d have labeled him “gun shy.”