312 STEEPLE-CHASING. 



when they would go quite quietly with one that is easier. 

 What this ' right bit ' may be, is one of the very many things 

 which the trainer has to study, and in which his skill and 

 judgment are shown. 



When these matters have received due attention, and the 

 horse is fit — into the details of preparation there is no need 

 here to enter — he may be tried, with a fair hope that he will 

 acquit himself creditably ; and if, with a good man on his back 

 and fair luck m escaping accident, he does not win his race, the 

 chances are that it will simply be because he is not quite good 

 enough. 



It is very certain that, if he does sufficiently well to make it 

 worth while to keep him at the work, his riders will often have 

 cause to be grateful that he has been patiently and thoroughly 

 schooled, as they see his rivals, as is now too often the case, the 

 half-taught hurdle-racers, blundering into their fences and over- 

 jumping, or for some reason or other coming to grief on the 

 other side of them. As the good horse's friends watch him 

 round the course, steadily crossing his fences as if he could not 

 blunder, and cleverly avoiding the mishaps and difficulties of 

 the contest, it is then that they appreciate the time and trouble 

 which have been expended on his education. 



