226 TRAINING AND RACING. 



I have endeavoured, by using approximate times for 

 the gallops, to give a general idea of what would be ad- 

 visable with a sound, stout, second class Waler, which with 

 9st. Tibs, up could do, on a level course, his mile in 1m. 

 50s., or 1J mile in about 2m. 21s. But there is such 

 infinite variety in the way different horses stand train- 

 ing, that it would be fruitless to give more than a 

 general outline of the system to be pursued, with some 

 hints and general directions which I hope may prove use- 

 ful. All the same, however well up a man without 

 personal experience may be in book lore on training, the 

 chances are that he will ruin a horse or two in his first 

 essay ; but as soon as he gets some practical experience, 

 he will quickly learn how to apply his book knowledge. 

 Training by short repeated gallops. There are many 

 horses whose legs would not stand the preparation I have 

 described. With such animals, the trainer may adopt, 

 with advantage, the system of short repeated gallops, 

 instead of that of the ordinary long ones. For instance, 

 in place of sending the horse a mile gallop, he might 

 tell the riding lad to walk him round the course to the 

 half mile-post, and gallop him in at the speed ordered, 

 then walk him round to the same place, and gallop him 

 as before. In this case, the muscles will have performed 

 the same work as they would have done, had the dis- 

 tance been one mile, while the suspensory ligaments 

 would not have run a tithe of the danger of being 

 sprained, for the time that these structures are peculiarly 

 liable to injury, is after the horse has begun to tire in 

 his gallop (see Veterinary Notes for Horse Owners, page 

 13). At other times, accidents rarely occur, except 



