BACE-lIOnSES.] 



MODEEN VETEEINAET PRACTICE. 



[uACE-nOESBS. 



will generally exert his energies to tho utmost 

 to beat his opponent. It is beautiful to see 

 liira advancing to the starting-post, every 

 motion evincing his eagerness. The signal is 

 ;;ivcn, and he springs away ; he settles himself 

 in his stride; the jockey becomes a part and 

 portion of him, every motion of the arms and 

 bodv corresponding with, and assisting the 

 action of tho horse. On he goes, eager, yet 

 husbanding his powers. At length, when he 

 arrives at that distance from which the rider 

 Imows that he will live home at the top of his 

 speed, the hint is given, and off he rushes. 

 The race now in reality begins, and every 

 nerve is strained to head his competitor. Then, 

 too, comes the art of the rider, to keep the 

 horse within his pace, and with admirable ffive 

 and taTce, add to the length of every stride. 

 Then, perhaps, the spur may be lightly and 

 ykilfully applied, to rouse every dormant energy. 



A sluggish, lurching horse, may need more 

 punishment than the humane observer would 

 think justifiable; but the natural ardour of 

 the race-horse, roused at the moment of the 

 grand struggle, by the moderate application of 

 the whip and spur, will bring him through, if 

 he can win. 



An anecdote of Forrester will aiford suffi- 

 cient illustration of the natural emulation of 

 the racer. He had won many a hardly con- 

 tested race ; at length, over-weighted, and 

 over-matched, the rally had commenced. His 

 opponent had been waiting behind, but had 

 now overtaken him, when, till within distance, 

 they continued to be close together. It was a 

 l)oint that could scarcely be decided; but 

 Forrester's strength was failing. He made 

 one desperate plunge — seized his antagonist 

 by the jaw to hold him back, and could be 

 scarcely forced to quit his hold. 



In like manner, a horse belonging to Mr. 

 Quin, in 1753, finding his adversary gradually 

 passing him, seized him by the leg, and both 

 riders were obliged to dismount, in order to 

 separate the animals. 



With horses such as these, exhibiting the 

 highest evidence of being thoroughly endued 

 with the true emulative spirit, what need for 

 a severe application of the whip or spur ? 

 AVould the pain, which they by these instru- 

 ments inflict, have carried such horses over 

 one additional inch of ground ? In all pro- 



bability their lacerations would have been 

 thrown away ; they miglit have shortened 

 the stroke for the animals which, perhaps, 

 would have become enraged, and have sus- 

 pended every exertion. AVhat says an autiio- 

 rity upon this subject. 



" Those persons who insist u])on an innate 

 quality in what is termed ' blood,' are led to 

 believe that there is something in the nature 

 of a thorough-bred horse which enables him 

 to struggle in a race far beyond his natural 

 capabilities, and which is distinguished by the 

 term ' game.' We do not think there is. AVo 

 learn from experience, that horses often allow 

 themselves to be beaten by others which are 

 inferior to them, from sheer ill-temper; but 

 their efforts to run a race, we consider to be 

 merely limited by their physical powers, the 

 effect of a proper arrangement of their parts ; 

 and that the operation of the mind, or spirit, 

 has nothing at all to do with it. The hero at 

 the Olympic games had, and the champion of 

 the British boxing-ring may have, feelings 

 which, from the superiority of their nature, 

 and tlie fact of their character, interest, and 

 future happiness being all involved in the 

 event, might have induced them to struggle, 

 even to the very verge of life ; but the same 

 sense of honour, and the same spirit of emu- 

 lation, cannot, at least, in anything like the 

 same ratio, be ascribed to the race-horse. If 

 his own acting potvers be unequal to those of 

 others opposed to him in the race, he yields to 

 that superiority; although it must be admitted, 

 that what are called sluggish horses will not 

 try to exert themselves to the utmost, unless 

 urged to it by the spur and whip ; and others, 

 when spurred and whipped, slacken, instead of 

 increasing their speed." 



To this subject it is unnecessary to give fur- 

 ther attention here: meanwhile, we may ob- 

 serve, that a diminutive brain is usually asso- 

 ciated with dull senses ; whilst a large one is 

 generally possessed of much sensibility, saga- 

 city, and courage ; but, whatever may be these 

 pliysiological distinctions or differences, let us 

 always remember, that though 



" The gcn'rous horse, 

 Restrain'd and awed by man's inferior force, 

 Does, to the rider's will, his rage submit, 

 And answers to the spur and owns the bit ;" 



humanity towards him, as well as towards all 



85 



