178 ON CLOTHING, ETC. 



these saddles are properly made, it is impossible to dis- 

 cover by the eye what weight they are. 



These are mostly used for the horse to be tried in, 

 and they are also used for the King's plate weights for 

 horses to run in ; and the number of them necessary to 

 be kept, will depend on the extent of a racing estab- 

 lishment. 



The web-girths, circingles, and stirrup-leathers for 

 racing saddles, should be made in breadth, size, and 

 substance, according to the weight of the saddle. 



There is another way of making up the weights 

 for horses to run and try in, when the jockeys are too 

 light. This is done by fixing trusses on the seats of 

 the saddles, and also on the thighs of the jockey, and 

 they are sometimes made to go round his body ; but 

 when jockeys want but little to make up their weight, 

 small bags of shot, weighing a pound each, or a piece 

 of lead of the same weight, and bent to the form of 

 the thigh, are carried in the jockey's breeches pocket. 



Trusses are made by the saddlers, of blue and white 

 striped bed-tick, (leather, I think, is preferable.) From 

 that part of the truss which covers the pummel of the 

 saddle, along the seat part which covers the cantle of 

 the saddle, it is sewn in straight lines, leaving a suffi- 

 cient space between the lines of about an inch and 

 three quarters, or two inches at farthest. These spaces 

 form what is usually called the pipes or truss into 

 which the shot is put, that is, when shot is made use 

 of to load them with. The under or back part of the 

 truss is generally made of leather, and fits over the 



