466 BREAKING AND TRAINING. 



endure the utmost exertion, grow heated at any employment, but will 

 not sensibly lose a particle by transmission. The trainer, nevertheless, 

 treats all animals alike. He gallops every quadruped submitted to his 

 care, as though the consequence was invariably beneficial. In vain does 

 one horse break down, another refuse its corn, and a third exhibit swollen 

 legs or crippled feet, while a fourth shall be only rendered more lively 

 by the process which disabled its fellows. To sweat is a part of the 

 trainer's system, and all the creatures which he is to train must therefore 

 be violently sweated. 



With racers, to these modes of debilitating is united a third, — exces- 

 sive labor. The horse is tried at its topmost speed. These trials are 

 frequent ; although it is a common saying that a horse may be trained 

 until it cannot move, still the practice is continued. The pace is quite 

 as severe as it is in a public race ; the weight is usually pretty much the 

 same. It is well known that these trials are often run in less time than 

 the contest for which they are thought to be only a preparation. Not 

 withstanding the repeated disappointment and the frequent injury in- 

 duced, such prejudicial experiments are continued, though not in every 

 sphere of training. Men train as prize fighters, but they do not, before 

 entering the ring, engage in numerous pitched battles. There is, as- 

 suredly, something wrong when the same law is stringent in one case 

 but is inoperative in another, although both instances are supposed to 

 be governed by the similar regulations. 



The trainer of late years has somewhat changed his customs. For- 

 merly, animals, while in training, were taken out of the stable twice each 

 day. Now they are allowed only to smell the air once in twenty-four 

 hours ; but the period of labor is lengthened*. The pace and the extent 

 of time over which it ranges are important considerations when young 

 life has to be dealt with. No less deserving some reflection is the bur- 

 den to be carried during such exertion. Last of all, and probably as 

 important as any, is the particular hour during which the natural habits 

 of the colt fit it to sustain extraordinary fatigue. 



The trainer's horses, ranged in Indian file, are now abroad from eleven : 

 sometimes they return by twelve ; at other occasions it is half-past twelve 

 before the bridles are slackened ; but generally one o'clock has struck be- 

 fore the saddles are removed. ^ From eleven to one is the precise period 

 when the sun attains its greatest altitude. At this time, those insect pests 

 which torment the equine race are busy and abroad. It is true, the eye 

 (Of the animal fits it to encounter the glare of the desert, but instinct dis- 

 poses the quadruped to roam only when the atmosphere is cool, when 

 all its annoyances have retired, and when moisture hangs upon the earth. 

 The eye can better sustain the effects of light in its excess tba,n the feet — 



