38 trainee's treatment. 



food, and that on the day when liis feet are to be most severely 

 tried by concussion on a hard road. It would be safer to 

 abuse his digestive organs one day and his feet another, than to 

 > abuse them both at the same time. We have had errass feedinc' 



horses that we could lame at any time, without any extra work, 

 by simply giving them more corn and less chaff. 



70. — Trainers for the race course or the hunting field are 

 constantly sailing as near the wind as they can in this respect. 

 Their horses must be well nourished, but the trainer wants the 

 tubes by which nourislmient must be conveyed to occupy as little 

 room as possible, in order that more room may b3 left for the 

 expansion and play of the lungs. Their horse's natural appetite 

 craves for more bulk in his food ; he longs for grass, hay, or even 

 straw, and it is often necessary to muzzle him, or to litter him 

 with saw dust to prevent him from eating his bed. The more 

 oats a horse can be got to eat the l»etter his trainer is pleased, 

 but no horse can live on oats alone, and some more bulky food 

 must be allowed. We know of some successful modern trainers 

 who allow their horses some succulent food, such as a little roots 

 or grass, with great advantage, especially for very nervous 

 horses. Bulky, succulent food is the surest relief for excessive 

 nervousness in horses. Bufe the trainer tries to find out how 

 ranch hay or other woody fibre, or bulky food, is absolutely 

 necessary to keep his horse in health, and in nine cases out of 

 ten he errs on the side of too little and too dry. Only 

 Thoroughbreds will stand this treatment, and a large proportion 

 of them go lame or otherwise break down under it. None of 

 them will stand it very long; all get "stale," stiff, and 

 prematurely old under it, and so permanently injurious is it to 

 the constitution that the best mares that have been long trained 

 will often not breed at all afterwards, and hardly any of them 

 ever breed a winning foal, however good they may have l^een 

 themselves. 



71. — We say this with no want of respect for the opinions 

 of trainers. They are a class of men whose views and practice 

 we consider entitled to much consideration, as they often gain 

 their knowledge with long patient experience, rather than by 



