104 ACCUSTOMING RACE HORSES TO WEIGHT. 



beneficial to accustom him at his exercise to go under 

 weight coming nearer to what he must carry in his 

 races. If hunters learn to go faster under weight from 

 practice, why not race-horses also ? The trainer, in 

 objecting to this, if he gave any reason why they 

 should not, further than "he knows they would not," 

 might say, exercising under 9st. 71b. instead of 6st. 

 71b. would make them shorten their stride. I allow 

 it would, and this would be a bad thing to have done 

 with a horse rising three years old ; but it by no 

 means follows it would be equally so when he is rising 

 five : it would if he had still to carry 6st. 71b. But 

 his future racing will be of a different character ; so 

 his qualifications must become of a different character 

 also, or he will shortly have no character at all, unless 

 it be a bad one. If which I do not think any one 

 will deny long striding horses cannot go long 

 lengths or carry weight and the horse in question 

 will have to do both so far from his learning to 

 somewhat shorten his stride being detrimental to him, 

 I should say the sooner we get him to do this the 

 better. At this age no doubt the trainer will get or 

 try to get a longer length into his horse than he did 

 at three years old ; but if it is necessary to accustom 

 him to go longer lengths at exercise to enable him to 

 go them in his races, why is it not equally necessary 

 to accustom him to carry something like the weight 

 he must expect to go under also ? This said shorten- 

 ing of stride is, I know, a bugbear in some trainers' 

 ideas: they say, and to a certain extent very justly, 

 that the long stride must as a matter of course cover 

 more ground than the short one : no one can deny 

 this ; but having allowed the truth of this self-evident 

 proposition, it by no means follows that I mean to 



