249 



for its injustice and inhumanity to the animal, and as a branch of that 

 detestable and false, although unhappily not yet exploded principle, 

 that he may be exposed to the most unfair and cruel treatment, pro- 

 vided such be the demand of our pleasures or our interest. But there 

 is a measure of justice due from man to inferior animals, as well as from 

 man to man ; and in these enlightened times, no honest and reflecting 

 mind will be ignorant of it. Yet I regret, and am ashamed to have 

 read, in a public newspaper, a few years since, that some contemptible 

 wretches, having a nag to start, which Avas rather too high for a poney, 

 adopted the barbarous method of " contracting his sinews, in order to 

 make him sufficiently low ;" and this they dared to do, in the observa- 

 tion of company, both male and female, of the highest ranks. 



But thanks to modern humanity, the noble and princely sport of 

 horse-racing is much divested of the disgusting barbarities of former 

 days, and this rational mildness will diffuse itself from the upper to 

 the lower ranks. Our races are shorter and less distressing, the pre- 

 vious discipline less severe and injurious, crossing and jostling races un- 

 frequent, and never exhibited, or ever thought of, in the disgusting 

 and savage style of the old times, when jockies were allowed to 

 whip and kick, and to attempt to unhorse each other, by entwining 

 their legs ! I Avell remember a fellow, a common rider for leather 

 plates, who was accustomed to boast of the execution he had formerly 

 done with the hut end of his whip, and of the eyes and teeth he had 

 beat out ! An excess in the use of the whip and spur in a race, will al- 

 ways be humanely avoided, in proportion as the'owner of the Horse re- 

 flects, and is a judge of the sport, and of his Horse's powers. Nothino- 

 can be more obvious, than that over-acted severity must counteract 

 its own purpose, and it is submitted to intelligent sportsmen, whether 

 there is not generally a too free use of the whip at the run-in. A Horse 

 being all abroad, may be whipped short of that point, but certainly ne- 

 ver beyond it ; and it may be doubted, whether something rather in 

 the form of encouragement, than of severitj^, be not the most probable 

 means to keep him there. 



The sentiments and orders of the proprietors of Race-horses, will ne- 

 cessarily guide the conduct of jockies and grooms, in these cases, and in 



2 K their 



