TRAINERS AND TRAINING 39 



will be seen of what great service the head lad can 

 be, especially when the trainer has been away from 

 home. The team first go through a bout of 

 walking, trotting, or cantering, for about three- 

 quarters of an hour, before settling down in earnest 

 to their work. The trainer generally stands at a 

 spot a short distance from where he intends the 

 horses to pull up, while the head lad takes the 

 string to the place where they jump off, and 

 despatches them, after telling the boys the pace 

 they are to go and the distance they are to cover, 

 matters which have been previously arranged. I 

 have sometimes been asked how I know when a 

 horse is fit and what is wanted to make him so, 

 and this is a question rather difficult to answer, as 

 it is all a matter of experience. One knows that 

 before winning a race, of whatever distance, a 

 horse must do a certain amount of galloping ; and 

 the trainer's business is complicated by the fact that 

 different horses, having different constitutions, 

 require different preparations. Thoroughly to 

 understand these differences of constitution is one of 

 the trainer's chief objects, for what suits some will 

 not suit others. It used, I believe, to be invariably 

 the case before a long-distance race to send the 

 horse over the full distance of the approaching 

 contest two or three times a week, and in certain 



