302 HORSE TRAINING 



year 1743, expressed himself very strongly upon this subject. In attend- 

 ing to the whip, he says " it is oftentimes of service, but I wish it were 

 more sparingly used", and assuredly these words of wisdom should be 

 written in letters of gold in every saddle-room in the kingdom. There is, 

 too, a very general tendency towards the emjiloyment of unsuitable bits on 

 horses of all varieties, young and old, light and heavy, and u; on this point 

 again the old Duke of Newcastle is to be credited with the delivery of 

 most excellent advice. He writes : " But, above all, this rule is chiefly to 

 be observed, to jjut as little iron in your horses' mouths as possibly you 

 ■can ". This advice is so admirable that it needs no comment, and. may 

 be sincerely commended to all horse-owners in the present day. Over- 

 bitting, unnecessary flogging, and the intimidation of nervous horses by 

 the shouting and bullying of loud-voiced trainers are indeed most fruitful 

 ■causes of inglorious displays in public on the part of animals which, had 

 they been properly treated, would have rendered far better accounts of 

 themselves. Therefore the most scrupulous attention to their comfort 

 and well-being in other res^^ects will certainly be neutralized if the natural 

 tenderness of their mouths and their individual peculiarities are not also 

 most carefully considered. 



Training for Hard Work. — In training and preparing horses for 

 hard work it is j^erhaps unnecessary to state that the methods which 

 obtained in days gone by have been greatly modified in many respects; 

 but even nowadays considerable diflerence of ojjinion exists amongst 

 trainers as to what is beneficial and what is not good for a horse. Some 

 men are keen believers in a system which involves an almost merciless 

 amount of hard work being set any animal which can endure it, whilst 

 others advocate a life of comparative laziness for the aspirants for future 

 honours, both parties being more or less indifferent to the fact that, after 

 all, the individual temperament and strength of each horse should be con- 

 sidered by itself, and every case be permitted to stand on its own merits. 



Water. — Most j^robably, however, the views of trainers differ more 

 strongly from each other upon the subject of water than they do upon any 

 other point. In America it is not generally considered necessary to restrict 

 the supply of fluid to any very a23preciable extent, and great was the 

 astonishment of English race-goers when they first saw the American race- 

 horses indulged with a drink from a pail of water before proceeding to the 

 post to fulfil their engagements at Newmarket. Mr. John Splan, one of 

 the most successful trainers and drivers of trotting horses, is emphatic in 

 his opinion that plenty of water should be supplied the competitors in a 

 match, as he writes that a drink may be given " before the race, in the 

 race, after the race, or at any time the horse wants to drink"; but on the 



