264 TRAINERS AND JOCKEYS 



or thirty, they thought they might be tolerably efficient, 

 and generally took upon themselves the responsibility of 

 conducting their own affairs. No stable-boy then came 

 quickly to the dignity of a master ; because, in selfish- 

 ness, the trainer would not instruct him sufficiently, and 

 reveal secrets of the profession that were necessary for 

 him to know in order to successfully contend with his 

 employer's son. How many do so now? To-day pre- 

 cocious boys are masters of the business before they are 

 out of their teens, in either capacity, and often in both ; 

 whilst from the kindness of gentlemen engaging them, 

 and of their employers in so highly educating them for 

 the station in life which they occupy with so much grace 

 and ability, they give presage of still greater knowledge 

 and skill. We have trainers, undoubtedly men of emin- 

 ence, whose antecedents verily gave little promise of the 

 astounding wisdom which they have displayed. We see 

 this phenomenon in all trades ; but in my own profession 

 we see masters of the art created out of barbers, pack- 

 men, and piemen Stebbing, Parr, and Petitt to wit, and 

 others whose only acquirement was the utter absence of 

 all knowledge whatever of a horse and its needs in any 

 shape or form. Nevertheless, success, however gained, is 

 genius, and talent in any form will be recognised without 

 regard to antecedents, whether on the racecourse or in 

 the Senate. 



But how changed is all to-day from the rough ill-con- 

 sidered usages of times gone by ! Does not the attenu- 

 ated form of the wasting jockey proclaim the absolute 

 necessity of relaxation ? The over-burdened frame, the 

 enervated system, borne down with excessive labour and 

 fatigue, attended as it is with extreme depression of the 

 mental powers, all demand it. Periodical rest, not partial 

 and remittent, but a total cessation from all bodily exer- 



