192 TRAINING AND RACING. 



No amount of trotting or walking can prove an efficient 

 substitute for galloping, of which exercise the trainer 

 should endeavour to give his horses as much as possible, 

 under certain reservations, to which we shall presently 

 allude. 



In order that fast work may be given with safety, the 

 horse should be gradually accustomed to it. The 

 golden rule here 1 being, that the length of a horse's gallop 

 should never exceed the distance which he can go at 

 the time being without his muscles becoming fatigued, 

 or which is the same thing without his becoming 

 <( blown," for neither man nor horse are ever so " beat," 

 as when they are " out of wind." In fast work the 

 suspensory ligaments are particularly liable to sprain, 

 as I have remarked in Veterinary Notes for Horse 

 Owners. " When the horse is fresh and untired, the 

 muscles, J o which the perforans and perforatus tendons 

 are attached, contract with such precision that the 

 foot is ' picked up ' (flexed) before undue strain can fall 

 on the suspensory ligament ; in fact, these tendons act 

 as assistant braces to it. But if the pace be continued, 

 the horse will ' dwell ' mor eand more in his stride, 

 and as the two muscles which move the tendons become 

 gradually fatigued, they also become unable to contract 

 with sufficient quickness to save the suspensory liga- 

 ment from undue strain ; besides this, the muscles get 

 tired, while the ligament does not experience the sen- 

 sation of fatigue ; hence the horse throws weight on 

 the latter to save the former. We may easily imagine 

 how great this strain must be, in the case of a race-horse 

 struggling home during a desperate finish. When the 



