ii6 RACE RIDING. 



given a mount, have been known to spur a horse on 

 his stifles. When inferior horsemen use spurs, they 

 ought to have them as short as possible. 



As a rule, a horse should not be touched with 

 the spurs until the jockey sits down to finish, when 

 three or four digs will be quite enough to make any 

 ordinary animal exert himself to the utmost. An in- 

 experienced rider ought to endeavour to make his horse 

 go fast at a finish by catching a good hold of his 

 head and ''riding him out," and not by spurring or 

 flogging him. 



" Too much importance," says Captain Jones, " cannot 

 be given to this subject. The indiscriminate use of 

 spurs by boys, who stick a pair of pitchforks as 

 large as themselves upon their heels, has for years 

 made the judicious grieve. I have had in my own 

 possession two racehorses who would not go if their 

 riders wore spurs, even if they did not use them. If 

 the animals saw these instruments of torture, they at 

 once declined the contest, and went to the starting post 

 in a series of buck-jumps, returning to the winning post 

 by the same mode of locomotion, never once settling 

 down to gallop. I should allow no rider, except the few 

 shining lights at the head of their profession, to even 



