4T2 



BREAKING AND TRAINING. 



tity would be indeed only a snack ; but it would be a welcome refresh- 

 ment. It would serve to repel the approach of inanition, and enable the 

 quadruped to join with spirit in the next "break away." 



On the course, excess of weakness has lost many a race. "W hy should 

 such a system be longer pursued ? Why are famishing animals, when 

 prostrated by the want of nourishment, enervated by actual hunger and 

 bv thirst, only considered qualified to exhibit fleetness ? Is not the idea, 

 when plainly stated, a self-evident fallacy ? Nor is it the only error 



FED BETWEEN THE BURSTS. 



which besets the antiquated customs of the trainer. It is usual to 

 change the shoes, in which the animal is to run, for what are termed 

 "plates," or, in other words, for shoes so light that fearful accidents are 

 reported to have occurred from these inadequate protectors of the hoof. 

 Such things have broken during the violence of the contest. Is there 

 not a foppery in the notion of making a horse's shoe so slight that it 

 shall lose its property of protection, to gain which advantage alone 

 caused the animals to be shod ? 



All men who have written about the horse agree in regarding the 

 shoe as an evil only to be endured because of its necessity. Its chief 

 injuries are accomplished by fettering the quarters as well as the heels, 

 also by throwing the elastic frog out of use. Upon the action of these 

 very parts of the horse's foot the bound, the spring, and the grace of the 



