CHAPTER IV. 



THE ABUSE OF THE SPUR. 



" You may ride us, 



With one soft kiss, a thousand furlongs, ere 

 With spurs we heat an acre." 



SAYS Hermione, and indeed that gentle lady's illustra- 

 tion equally applies to an inferior order of beings, from 

 which also man derives much comfort and delight. It 

 will admit of discussion whether the <( armed heel," with 

 all its terrors, has not, on the race-course at least, lost 

 more triumphs than it has won. 



I have been told that Fordham, who seems to be first 

 past the judges' chair oftener than any jockey of the 

 day, wholly repudiates " the tormentors," arguing that 

 they only make a horse shorten his stride, and " shut 

 up," to use an expressive term, instead of struggling 

 gallantly home. Judging by analogy, it is easy to con- 

 ceive that such may be the case. The tendency of the 



