ON CLOTHING, ETC. 179 



cantle of the saddle. The upper edge of the tick is 

 bound with leather ; there are holes to be made in this 

 and the lower part, which holes should be punched 

 small and close. At this cantle part of the truss the 

 shot is put in, and to prevent its escaping, these two 

 edges are brought together by a strong leather lace. 

 I do not approve of this plan, as, from a truss which 

 has been long in use, and which has no other security 

 than this lace, the shot may partly escape, from the 

 pressure of the jockey and the concussion produced by 

 the stride of the horse in running ; the consequence of 

 which would be that the jockey would come in short 

 of vi^eight, which should not be allowed to happen. 

 I think the better and more secure way would be to 

 put the shot in at the pummel ; or perhaps, that which 

 may be preferable to either, would be to have some 

 canvass bags made, rather smaller than the pipes of the 

 truss ; fill these bags with the shot, and sew up the 

 ends. They may then be put into the pipe of the 

 truss, and the truss at the cantle part may then be 

 sufficiently secured by the lace in the usual way. 



This plan of making canvass bags will, I think, be 

 found to be the most convenient way of loading the 

 truss, as the training groom may now and then have 

 occasion to make use of this same truss, for a purpose 

 rather the reverse of that for which it was originally 

 intended. But of this matter, I shall speak more fully 

 when on the subject of trying the horses. To secure 

 the truss to the saddle, there should be firmly attached 

 to the former, four pieces of stout leather, with two holes 



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