106 HOT-AIE BATH. 



power in man, increases by exercise ; and to my own mind it 

 would seem to be as impossible that a colt should attain to 

 speed and enduring power by the short cut of a Roman bath 

 alone, as that a lad should be taught in six lessons to speak 

 French, to write a fair hand, or to play tolerably on the 

 flute. 



"There are several important points in Admiral Rous' 

 letter on which lack of space prevents me entering at length, 

 viz., the ventilation of stables, the question of how and when 

 to clothe horses, the amount of walking exercise required in 

 training, and whether, as a rule, this latter should be given 

 once or twice in the day. As to training grooms preferring 

 in such matters to consult their own convenience, that sup- 

 position is opposed to the character drawn of trainers by the 

 Admiral himself, and totally at variance with my own expe- 

 rience of all trainers with whom business has brought me in 

 connection. I have always found these men scrupulous, 

 sometimes fastidiously so, in the execution of all details, and 

 am persuaded that if it were known that horses would be 

 the better for being exercised three times a day, there is not 

 a respectable training groom in England who would not 

 adopt the plan. I have for years past looked at the achieve- 

 ments accomplished by English trainers, who have brought 

 their horses so admirably to the post, as surpassing anything 

 in modern times in the art of the management of horses. 

 Over many of the defects justly complained of, trainers them- 

 selves have no control : running colts at an early age, some 

 yearlings, and all at two years old, the hurried process of 

 getting them early to a great size, much in the way that 

 cattle and calves are forced, more with a view to bulk and 

 early sale than to their permanent utility these are all 

 errors against which the trainer has peculiarly to contend. 

 As to the art of shoeing race-horses, when to begin the pro- 



