SPUJ^S. 



115 



whom no one, in any age, has ever pursued such a 

 successful turf career, who replied to a jockey that 

 asked him how he was to ride his horse : " Nay, lad, 

 that is thy business to know how the horse should be 

 ridden ; I cannot teach thee." 



On the Use of Spurs during a Race.— Spurs ought 

 to be put on for a race, unless the horse runs unkindly 

 when they are used, or the jockey is such a bad rider 

 that he cannot spur properly at a finish, or cannot help 

 touching his horse with them. After taking one's 

 spurs off to ride a rogue, it may be just as well, in 

 the preliminary canter, to touch him a couple of 

 times with one's heels in order to show him that he 

 need not fear punishment from them. Some horses, 

 on the contrary, will not extend themselves unless the 

 rider has spurs on. 



The proper zvay to tise the spurs is to turn out the toes 

 and strike as close behind the girth as possible, without 

 raising the heels in the slighest when doing so. The 

 feet should on no account be swung back. Nothing is 

 more unworkmanlike than scoring the horse's sides 

 with the spurs by raising or drawing back the heels. 

 Bad riders not unfrequently spur a horse about the 

 shoulders ; while men, who never ought to have been 



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