Breaking Yearlings. 141 



To grow a yearling that will measure 15 hands at from 

 12 to 14 months old requires a liberal ration of good corn, 

 and shelter from winter wind and rain. To expect under 

 such treatment to get the same tough limbs and rugged con- 

 stitutions as one finds in the prairie-reared horse is unrea- 

 sonable. If one wants strawberries in January one forces 

 them; if race-horses measuring from 15.3 to 16 hands at 

 two years old are required, "forcing" again becomes a 

 necessity. 



One reads very frequently nowadays that the British 

 thoroughbred is sadly deteriorating, and comparisons are 

 made with old-time equine celebrities, much to the detri- 

 ment of the former. Doubtless there were giants in the land 

 in those days both as regards horses and jockeys, but one 

 needs to compare very carefully the conditions under which 

 racing was then carried on and is carried on to-day, before 

 giving a verdict either one way or the other. In those 

 " good old days " four-mile heats were in fashion, and there 

 was no such surfeit of two-year-old and sprint races as pre- 

 vail to-day. The jockeys of yore, with legs straight and 

 hands down on withers, held their mounts well together till 

 the " distance " was reached, when they turned on full 

 steam and depended on artistic horsemanship and a com- 

 paratively fresh horse for victory. To-day, when the 

 "tapes" fly up, top speed is turned on, the jockeys, with 

 knees on withers and hands within a foot of the bit, urge on 

 their mounts, balanced or unbalanced as luck will have it, 

 till the post is reached. " 'Tis the pace that kills"; the 

 strain of " coming right through " on even a five-year-old 

 must be very severe, so what must it be on a delicately 

 nurtured, still growing two-year-old? The question of 

 deterioration might be best answered by asking another 

 question, viz., " Would the horses of bygone days have stood 



