158 TRAINING. 



the reverse of all this? A powerful- limbed, iine- 

 chested, well circular-barreled, strong, quiet-dis- 

 positioned horse: and is he young or old? for, 

 according as he varies between all these, so 

 must your training vary. Has he been only a 

 short time out of the stables, and just advancing 

 into something of that state we left him in at 

 p. 136, under "Exercise,'' or was he half trained 

 last year, and been kept in tolerably strong 

 exercise, with proportionate hard food ever since ? 

 The latter has a decided advantage; and if he 

 has been down the gulph two years, and half 

 trained each year, he has of course a greater 

 advantage still. Racing colts in England, it is 

 true, come to the post at three and four years 

 old, in fine order, most of the great stakes 

 being for young horses; but a couple of years' 

 extra hard food, with as much exercise as can 

 be given, without rounding the shank-bone or 

 bringing a windgall, adds no little to strength and 

 vigour.* 



* In India a little more soiling is thought necessary than in 

 England ; and, if so, then a less quantity of physic is needed. 



