RACE AND SHOWYARD RIDING 259 



flourish your whip and arms about and spur 

 your horse. The probabihty is if you do that 

 3^ou will throw the race away. It takes an ex- 

 perienced jockey to ' finish ' well. But keep 

 your horse moving freely and remember that 

 when a horse has galloped three miles or upwards 

 he is much easier stopped than set going again. 



When I was very young I found that out. A 

 friend and I were riding home by a bridle road 

 and one of us suggested a gallop. Conditions 

 were soon arranged and a trifling bet was made. 

 Both horses were as bad as bad could be ; we 

 knew that. But mine was a littie better than 

 I thought he was and I had backed myself be- 

 cause I thought — and justly — that I was the 

 better horseman of the two. When we had 

 covered about three-parts of the distance my 

 opponent was in difliculties and my horse was 

 going gaily enough. So I began to ease him 

 thinking to win in a slow canter by a head as I 

 had seen John Osborne do some time before. I 

 slowed down easily enough and was doing every- 

 thing to my own satisfaction when I saw the 

 other struggling on, and thought I would shake 

 mine up a bit, but to no purpose, and I was beaten. 

 And I learnt then, and have never forgotten it, 

 that a commoner never ' comes ' twice in one 

 race. 



The training of the show horse has already 

 been treated of, but a few words about showing 

 him will not be out of place. Many young men 

 are keen to show their own horses and they are 



