PREJUDICE OF OWNERS FOR BIG CONDITION. 95 



system have been always condemned : not by thinking men, 

 but by those only "who think true what they wish to be 

 so " — the fitness to run of a fat horse. As do men look in 

 the circumstances of Crib, given at foot, so do horses in the 

 eyes of their owners when first they see them fit to run ; 

 having, be it understood, never set eyes upon them since the 

 day when, enveloped in fat, they left their own stables for 

 those of the trainer. At this sudden and great change 

 employers often express not only surprise but dissatisfaction ; 

 forgetting or not knowing how necessary the change is — as 

 I hope has been proved by what I have said. From Mr. 

 Copperthwaite I may glean an amusing anecdote to the 

 point. He tells us that a friend of his did not know his 

 own horse after a month's training, and said to the trainer, 

 "Why, sir, this is not the half of him !" and added, " I had 

 better secure the remaining half whilst I can ! " And did so, 

 removing the horse there and then. 



It is not often that gentlemen volunteer to instruct the 

 trainer in his business ; yet I have been requested to train 

 my horses big — requests which I may say virtually amounted 

 to positive orders, and as such were faithfully obeyed. " The 

 late Mr. Scott made a practice of training his horses big, 

 and why could you not do so .'' " was a remark once made to 

 me. " Simply because I know they run better light," was 

 my reply. 



On one of these occasions a trial was made. The horses 

 arrived, as many living noblemen and others can testify, 

 in the most splendid condition, full of vigour, as round 

 as apples, and coats shining like stars. At Ascot an 



shadow of his once great self, yet, from what follows in the narrative (which it is 

 not necessary to repeat here), he appears to have never been better, as success 

 attended his eff nts. 



