KEVEK MIKD AND JAKE. 385 



somewhat sore in the muscles, and though his high tem- 

 per induced him to burst off when the reins were loosened, 

 the trot was painful to him, which he sought to relieve by 

 breaking into a gait that would exercise the muscles in a 

 different direction, and thus afford him relief. When he 

 broke, you should have given him his head for a short 

 distance, talking soothingly to quiet him, when he might 

 have taken to trotting again himself; or, if he did not, if 

 you had pulled him directly back, in place of snatching 

 him to one side, he in all likelihood would never have 

 touched his quarter. You have not reduced him more 

 than he ought to have shrunk, in the length of time that 

 has elapsed since his first sweat. For the present, we will 

 confine his fast work to once a week, and, by jogging him 

 further, accomplish the necessary exercise, and allow the 

 soreness to subside. We will have the outside of the track 

 harrowed till it is quite deep, and you can give him all 

 the work on that part, making his brushes corresponding- 

 ly shorter. How about Jane ? I am anxious to hear of 

 her doings. She certainly looks well, and from the further 

 diminution of the enlargement on her knee, I would judge 

 she does not brush it any more. 



PUPIL. Jane has performed admirably. I have also 

 been working her as much as I dare. She has gone 

 through the same number of sweats as the Falcon, and 

 has never become irritated in the least. I have not " taken 

 her by the head " for as speedy a brush as the others have 

 had, though I have let her stride along at a good round 

 gait. I had proposed to drive her as fast as I could to- 

 morrow, and, if you think it is best, will do so. You can 

 then judge better how she ought to be handled hereafter. 



PRECEPTOR. It will be proper, as she is in condition to 

 undergo it; and as we can never win races without going 

 fast, it is time that all of those which we intend to employ 

 in trotting races should give us a taste of their quality. 



