ON THE STABLES, ETC. 57 



this may with safety be left to the decision and better 

 judgment of the practical man. 



Some noblemen and gentlemen who keep race-horses 

 prefer having them wintered at home, where they for- 

 ward them in their condition, previous to their being 

 sent to the public training establishment. For this 

 purpose, they keep their own training grooms, in whose 

 honesty, and judgment in training, they necessarily 

 place the most implicit confidence ; yet, under certain 

 circumstances, such as the convenience of getting 

 better ground, or of being near the place of running, 

 noblemen and gentlemen occasionally send their horses 

 and boys to public training stables ; and, considering 

 their own grooms better acquainted with the constitu- 

 tions and tempers of their horses than a stranger could 

 possibly be, they are sometimes sent with them to large 

 public racing establishments, in which the groom of 

 course wishes to have the stables his horses are to oc- 

 cupy, entirely to himself; and in order to meet this 

 proper request, the communication from one stable to 

 the other must be effectually cut ofT. Whenever it 

 becomes necessary to close these communicating doors, 

 it must be done effectually and satisfactorily to each 

 party, so as to prevent any unpleasant suspicions from 

 arising. It is, however, but just to observe, that 

 grooms, though animated by a laudable feeling of 

 rivalry towards each other, generally speaking, agree 

 tolerably well as neighbours, even when they are living 

 together in the same stable-yard, as they often do, for 

 some time previous to their horses running at any par- 



