COUNTRY COURSES UNFIT FOR DERBY NAGS. 115 



qualities ; if so, these, though failings in another horse, 

 are perfections in a race-horse: for provided he has 

 speed and stoutness, it matters not how he goes : if 

 he can beat other horses, it is all we want of him, go 

 how he may; but if he cannot, and goes badly, 

 certainly the first thing to be done is to make, or 

 at least leave nothing unattempted to make, him go 

 better, and train him afterwards ; even then taking 

 care that the same mode of riding that had improved 

 him (if it had done so) should be kept in mind, and 

 acted upon as far as the thing could be done in 

 accordance with the established rules of training. 



There is another case where long striding horses 

 always go under disadvantages when they get to a 

 certain age. They are frequently then sent to country 

 meetings, where the course is always round or ob- 

 long, or something like it, often with sharp turns. 

 Here the striding goer comparatively cannot go at 

 all : he must to a certain degree be pulled off his 

 speed at these turns, or go very much out of his 

 ground ; or if you prefer it, run the risk of breaking 

 his neck, his rider's, or something else. The quick 

 striking horse whips round these at all but undimin- 

 ished speed, and the more of them the more in his 

 favour, for he gains by every one ; or at least his 

 opponent loses, which is the same thing in point of ad- 

 vantage to the other. Country courses are not always 

 quite as free from inequalities as a billiard table. 

 Here the long strider is often put out of his stroke. 

 This, independently of its unsafety to such a horse, 

 both tires and annoys him : he must go with a re- 

 gular sweeping stroke, or he can't go at all: when 

 not able to do so, he very often does what is just as 

 bad as (nay, worse than) losing the race ; he loses is 



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