26 THE TOST AND THE PADDOCK. 



Royal Veterinary College. The late Miss ^nn Rich- 

 ards, of Ashdown Park memory, used to leave her 

 coach and six, and head the beaters all day " with 

 her kirtle \\p to her knee ;" but she was not one whit 

 more knowing and enthusiastic about " long-tails " 

 than Mrs. Day was about thorough-breds. Her 

 family maxims, moreover, were quite as sound as her 

 stable ones, and she impressed " The Whole Duty of 

 Man " on her children, if our memory serves us, in 

 the following wholesome couplet : 



" Fear thy God, speak evil of none, 

 Stick to the truth, and don't be done." 



Training as a system is very much lighter than it 

 was twenty years ago ; and heavy-clothed sweats are 

 fast going out of fashion, except a horse is fearfully 

 gross ; and then, if his legs are shaky, he is trained as 

 a forlorn hope " through the muzzle." Tiny Edwards 

 used to say that he was obliged to keep Glencoe per- 

 petually at it, or "he would have got above himself, 

 and every one else into the bargain." Springy Jack 

 was also one of the fat kine, inside and out ; and so 

 was Voltigeur till his heart was so broken in his 

 match preparation that his form wholly left him, 

 and he could not even be coaxed to feed in John 

 Scott's hands. Nancy was an odd instance of a 

 mare who required no work beyond a few half-speed 

 gallops; and it has always been a peculiarity of 

 Phryne's stock and the Venisons, that they run in 

 flesh, while the Bay Middletons generally bear draw- 

 ing fine. To convert flesh into muscle is, however, the 

 great problem. Railway facilities enable trainers to 

 keep their horses always at it in public; and the 

 Parr-Osborne principle suits the majority of hardy 

 ones. Perhaps the most extraordinary specimens of 

 modern hard-workers are Clothworker, who won 80 

 out of 59 races in two seasons ; Rataplan, who owns 

 to 38 out of 62 in the same time ; while Fisherman 



