PREPARATIONS. 435 



more than remuneration, sufficient to repay you for the 

 trouble you have taken with them. 



This dinner hardly equals those you are accustomed to, 

 though allowance must be made for the confusion at- 

 tendant on preparing for a race day. Sandwiches, tarts, 

 doughnuts, &c., are consumed in such quantities, that it 

 must be as hungry a job to witness the contests as your 

 friend deems it dry. 



PUPIL. Shall I limit the Falcon to a pint? His race 

 may be delayed for quite a time after the other, and he is 

 very ravenous in his desires. 



PRECEPTOR. The object in giving the horses any grain 

 now, is to stop them worrying about the want of the feed 

 they have been accustomed to, and not for any actual 

 necessity for the sustenance. Digestion cannot take place, 

 and whatever we give will only be in the way. The two 

 quarts they eat at ten o'clock has probably been assimilated. 

 That, and the vigorous state they are in, ought to carry 

 them through these races without any weakness accruing. 

 Should it arise, we will give temporary relief by using cor- 

 dials and stimulants, which will not interfere with the 

 capacity to perform fast work. You want plenty of clothes 

 woolen and linen scrapers, rubbers, sponges, foot pick, 

 buckets, water, oatmeal gruel, bandages, knee and quarter 

 boots,- the bottle of .sherry, &c. I do not think we will re- 

 quire the boots, though it is good policy to have them on 

 hand, and still better luck not to need them. You had 

 better slip a pair of hand-pieces on the reins. You need 

 not pull on them any harder than you would if they were 

 absent, and they are of service by being placed at the 

 right length, which a wrap might not be, making your 

 reins of unequal length. 



Now we are ready for the signal, and not a moment too 

 soon, as there goes the first tap. Don't get in a hurry, 

 but hitch up the same as if you were going out to the 



