34 THE RACING WORLD 



head lad is really the first essential, especially as the 

 trainer will necessarily be a great deal from home, 

 and must have someone he can really depend upon 

 to be responsible for the conduct of affairs during 

 his absence. The head lad will see, for instance, 

 that the yearlings are kindly and patiently treated. 

 When they arrive the chances are they will be 

 perfectly good-tempered. Young horses usually 

 are so. Some of them may have peculiarities of 

 disposition, but as a very general rule vice is made 

 in the stable. I think it may be claimed to the 

 credit of the trainers of to-day that there is not 

 now half the vice there used to be, and this I 

 attribute to the fact that, as a rule, young horses 

 are more kindly treated than they were in former 

 times. Some of them are nervous, and nervousness 

 may be changed into vice by harsh and injudicious 

 treatment. I have known horses that were 

 perfectly good-tempered when they arrived and had 

 no objection to being handled, but in the course of 

 time when you go up to them in the stable they 

 begin to flinch, and then you know, or at any rate 

 most strongly suspect, that the fault is with the 

 boys. The young things would not have taken to 

 flinching for nothing. Patience and consideration 

 must be insisted on, and here it is that your head 

 lad comes in, whilst he will also be useful in keep- 



