AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 



439 



jockey than he does in any other. George Fordham 

 was a striking example of this truism, for often enough 

 a horse would run a stone better under him than when 

 piloted by a less sympathetic man. Fordham, by subtle 

 influence, had the power of conveying his will to 

 stimulate the speed, the courage, and the heart, nay, 

 even the soul — to consider the point curiously — of the 

 horse he bestrode. Nor was this end achieved by the 

 ruthless use of whip and spur, which only too often 

 marked Fred Archer's efforts in a desperate finish: it 

 was attained by the velvet touch of the hands on 

 the reins, which acted as a conductor of the human 

 current to the equine, inspiring confidence and energy 

 in the horse. Only on rare occasions did Fordham apply 

 whip and spur, and these happened mostly when he was 

 on a slow, muddling rogue, who would never do his best 

 under the milder method of riding .with the hands. 

 Archer, particularly in the earlier period of his career, 

 was very severe on two-year-olds, and many a " young 

 thing's" heart he broke by the pimishment he 

 administered. That really fine horseman and equally 

 fine character, Tom Cannon, made it a rule never to 

 punish a two-year-old; and even as much can be said 

 of John Osborne. Fred Webb, too, was an artistic 

 handler of youngsters. 



More races have been lost by "butcher boys" by 

 the ahnost unpardonable use of whip and spur than 

 pen can record. Indeed, one is incKned to think that 

 the magnates of the Turf would be enacting a humane 

 law if they forbade race-riding with the adjuncts of 

 whip and spur. These instruments may be necessary 

 in some cases. It is the accursed modern fashion of 

 having so many " short cut " races, in which the jockeys 

 are at it " hammer and tongs " from pillar to post, that 



