FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



need little or no schooling at water-jumps, either. 

 A green horse may " prop " a little before a 

 water-jump in a race, but he is going too fast to 

 stop, and is over before he knows. If he learns 

 to refuse in his preliminary work, however, he 

 can never be depended upon, and he can, if scien- 

 tific, come at his fence at a tremendous rate, and 

 still stop dead, or whip 'round. 



The long-hill trots and canters are the things, 

 and if he can wind up by jumping a few fences on 

 his way to the stable, he is learning his business 

 and getting fit to perform it at one and the same 

 time, and with the best will in the world. 



The thoroughbred novice will generally prove, 

 or seem to prove, himself rather timorous at first. 

 Of course, as a matter of fact, he is exactly the 

 reverse, but all his preliminary education, if com- 

 ing from a flat-racing stable, has taught him the 

 wisdom of doing as little as he possibly can when 

 outdoors. His carelessness and indifference re- 

 sult generally from that fact, and also from the 

 superior intelligence which leads him to be suspi- 

 cious of novelties and cautious to a fault. Gener- 

 ally, he is a shockingly bad performer at all paces 

 except full speed ; he misunderstands the position 

 of your hands when you start to canter, as a sig- 



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