TRAINING. 297 



water on his way home, he never " breaks out," and 

 never refuses his feed. 



'It is a British prejudice, and a very cruel one, 

 not to let a horse drink when he is thirsty. If any 

 of my readers have a horse that does not feed when 

 he comes in from a day's hunting, let him try the 

 Turkish plan.' — H. C. Barkley, ' Five Years in 

 Bulgaria.' 



Not so many years ago the same idea prevailed 

 in connection with the training of competitors in 

 athletic sports. 



As some of my readers may have personal reasons 

 for remembering if they have rowed in a college 

 boat-race, one of the chief duties of the trainer was 

 to dole out liquids to his men as if they were adrift 

 on the ocean with a scanty supply of water. The 

 men were kept in a perpetual state of raging thirst, 

 so that on the day when the traditional black draught 

 had to be administered, they almost flew at it because 

 it was liquid. 



At the present time, the trainers, being educated 

 men, have seen the absurdity of a process which was 

 invented by the ignorant prize-fighting set of a century 

 ago, and have gradually emancipated their charges 

 from the incessant physicings, ' training mixtures,' 

 semi-raw beef, total deprivation of vegetables, and 

 the chary doles of ' old,' i.e. hard ale, which con- 



