TG THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF ENGLISH HORSES. 



courses, the actual race being sometimes little more than two or tlireo 

 hundred yards, a gi-eat deal depends on the rider. If the cattle are 

 tolerably fairly matched, all depends upon him. If he has confidence in 

 the stoutness of his horse, he may distance all his competitors ; or he may 

 nurse the fleet but weedy thing to almost the last stride, and dart by the 

 winning post before his rival has been able to gather himself up for the 

 last effoi't. 



One thing cannot be denied, that the consciousness in the jockeys of 

 their power, and the account which they will probably be called upon to 

 render of the manner in which they have used it, has led to far more 

 cruelty in the management of these races than ever disgi^aced the records 

 of former times. Habit had given to the older horses of those days a 

 principle of emulation and of obedience. When the race in reality began, 

 the horse understood the meaning of his rider, and it seldom required 

 any cruel application of the whip or the spur to bring him through if he 

 could win. 



Forrester will afford sufficient illustration of this. He had won many 

 hardly-contested races ; but on an unfortunate day he was matched against 

 an extraordinary horse, Elephant, belonging to Sir Jennison Shaftoe. 

 It was a four-mile heat over the straight course. They passed the flat 

 — they ascended the hill as far as the distance post — they were nose 

 to nose. Between this and the chair, Elephant got a little ahead. 

 Forrester made every possible effort to recover this lost ground, until, 

 finding all his efforts ineffectual, he made one, desperate plunge — he 

 seized his antagonist by the jaw to hold him back, and could scarcely be 

 forced to quit his hold. In like manner, a horse belonging to Mr. Quin, 

 in 1753, finding his adversary gi-adually passing him, seized him by the 

 leg ; and both riders were obliged to dismount, in order to separate the 

 animals. 



The youngsters may not have felt all this emulation, nor be disposed 

 painfully to exert their energies to the very utmost ; and it may be 

 necessary — necessary, in order to accomplish the purpose of the OAvner by 

 winning the race — that the poor animal shou.ld be brutally urged on, 

 until the powers of nature fail, and he retires from the course a cripple 

 for life. 



This is a necessary part of the system. It is accounted the duty of the 

 rider — it is a duty on the skilful discharge of which a few of them plume 

 themselves ; but it is that which should not be tolerated, and the system of 

 which it is a necessary part should undergo a speedy and effectual reforma- 

 tion. We entirely agree with the remarks of Nimrod on this subject. 

 ' There arc many jockeys employed by the inferior black-leg species of 

 sportsmen, and even some of a higher class, who will not be convinced 

 that a rider has acted honestly, unless his horse is nearly dissected alive ; 

 but, in the strongest probability, every drop of blood drawn is utterly 

 unnecessary, as it is barbarous and contrary to the very idea of sport, in 

 which even the horse himself ought to share. Such an opinion was given 

 from the heart, as Avell as from the mature judgment of the late Sir Thomas 

 Charles Bunbury, within a few months of his decease, after five-and-fifty 

 years of experience on the most e.xtensive scale. Although the stout and 

 game horse "will run to the whip, the excess of it must necessarily shorten 

 his stride, and, in course, detract from his speed. ]\Iany a race has been 

 lost by a foul cut, or a brutal use of the spur — either by damping the 

 spirit and enfeebling the nerve of the horse, or inducing a sullen disgust 

 and desperation. An example, much talked of at the time, and through 

 which a vast sum of money was lost, occurred in the case of a horse of old 

 Dnko William, which was nearly home and winning. He received afoul 



