346 TESTS OF HORSEMANSHIP. 



easy in trotting than in flat-race riding, to succeed in which a 

 jockey should know what is the highest speed of his horse, 

 should always keep near it, and should demand it only at the 

 critical moment. 



I put flat-race riding in the fourth rank, considering that it 

 is truly an art which only such men as F. Archer, Watts, 

 Cannon, Webb and others can acquire. A flat-race jockey 

 has to be an exceedingly good judge of pace, and if he does 

 not know what speed his animal can maintain without becom- 

 ing exhausted, he will never make a name for himself. When 

 we think that the highest speed of a racehorse is about five 

 furlongs in a minute, we will understand how difficult it is tO' 

 judge pace within a second or two. 



If it is simply a matter of one following the other, the first 

 comer can do it. The difficulty is to set and maintain the 

 pace which suits the horse best, and if the jockey cannot place 

 him as he likes, without fighting with him, he will do no 

 good. 



If the jockey takes too strong a bearing on the reins, the 

 horse will exhaust himself by the efforts he makes against the 

 hands, in which case his mouth suffers much less than his loins 

 and hocks, the result being that the animal will not be able to^ 

 finish in good style. If, on the contrary, the jockey does not 

 keep a proper hold of his horse's head, the animal will go too- 

 fast, and will be unable to struggle at the critical moment. 

 The jockey should therefore have sufficient sense not to fall 

 into either of these extremes. 



Breaking a school horse comes under the last term. To 

 succeed at it, a man should possess knowledge, delicacy of 

 touch and tact to a supreme degree, and should have an exact 

 acquaintance with the capabilities of a horse, so that he may 

 break him without making him unsound. 



In the breaking of a school horse, we require not only a 

 perfect knowledge of the effects of the hands and legs, but we 



