198 RIDING, DRIVING AND KINDRED SPORTS 



a race properly a man requires to be in the 

 very best condition possible, and you must go 

 into training as carefully and as strictly as you 

 would for a place In your college boat. Take 

 plenty of exercise, walk for an hour every day 

 and bicycle for another hour. Live simply, 

 don't smoke, and drink very little. There Is 

 nothing better than light table beer, and one 

 or two glasses of a light, dry port. Do not 

 touch spirits In any case. 



Bread, pastry, and tobacco are the three 

 things which are most deleterious to the wind. 

 If you won't train, then don't ride. How often 

 one sees the rider far more done than the horse ! 

 I well recollect seeing a young soldier land 

 triumphantly over the last hurdle of a steeple- 

 chase and then roll off from pure exhaustion. 

 It Is difficult to make men who can ride 

 ordinarily well realise that they cannot last 

 through a three or four mile steeplechase 

 without being in the very pink of condi- 

 tion. 



Now let us turn to the always Interesting 

 topic of the horse and his training. Here our 

 course Is plain, for we have the main lines laid 

 down for us. I think, however, that certain 

 points may be, as It were, emphasised for the 

 benefit of those who wish to give a horse some 

 kind of preparation at home. This is very 



