WASTING. 443 



WASTING FOR RACE RIDING. 



A jockey who wishes to keep down his weight for the 

 season, can do so by strictly adhering to the regimen which has 

 just been described, and by taking a large amount of exercise, 

 as, for instance, walking twenty or twenty-five miles a day. By 

 pursuing this system, a man in a month or six weeks will get 

 down to within five or six pounds of his lightest riding weight, 

 which, if necessary, can be attained by a couple of sweats and 

 three-quarters or one ounce of Epsom salts. John Osborne 

 and Edwin Martin used to waste by taking long walks without 

 sweaters, and observing strict moderation in food, which 

 system they found far better than that of violent purgatives 

 and heavy sweats. Both of these fine horsemen have re- 

 peatedly got off a couple of stones in a fortnight or three weeks, 

 and have felt all the better for it. Regular sweats depress a 

 man so much and make him so nervous, that he cannot 

 continue taking them in an effectual manner for a long period. 

 Also, a jockey will find that after getting off five or six 

 pounds by a single sweat, he will put nearly all the weight 

 back again by eating even a moderate meal. Although the 

 first few long walks without sweaters will not take much 

 weight off, this work will rapidly waste down the superfluous 

 flesh, if continued. As fluid of any sort puts up weight, a 

 jockey will often be forced to exercise more abstinence in 

 drinking, than is good for his health. I need hardly say that 

 the less spirits he takes, the steadier will be his nerves. The 

 system of long walks and abstinence as regards food and 

 drink, requires so much fixity of purpose and self-denial, that 

 it is easy to understand that it is unpopular among so-called 

 fashionable jockeys. 



If a man is too lazy to walk long distances every day, he 

 should adopt a starvation diet ; and if that is not sufficient, 

 he will have to rely on sweats and physic. In this case, the 



