86 RIDING, DRIVING AND KINDRED SPORTS 



a horse which clears up every oat in his 

 manger. The second, you must make short 

 days, for there is no such strain on a horse 

 as being for long hours out of his stable ; and 

 the third is, you must pay great attention to 

 stable management. And since the last-named 

 requisite is the same for all who desire to use 

 economy in sport. I will now deal with this very 

 important point. 



The poor man will of necessity be his own 

 stud groom. For many years past, with the 

 exception of two seasons, when other and more 

 profitable occupations made it necessary to 

 employ a first-rate man in the stable, I have 

 always been my own stud groom. An ap- 

 prenticeship in India with a stable of racing 

 and polo ponies, and of horses, when on 

 one occasion I took the station hounds, has 

 been most useful to me. Be a man rich or 

 poor in India he must of necessity look after 

 his horses himself, if he wishes to have them 

 well-kept and in . good health. The Indian 

 syce is not a bad groom in his way, but he 

 is quite incapable, as a rule, of acting for him- 

 self, and his intellect is, perhaps, on a level with 

 that of the horse he looks after. 



All the help, then, that is required in the 

 stable is a strong, useful man, of the vicarao^e- 

 groom-gardener type, or a willing lad anxious 



