184 ON TRAINING GROUNDS. 



hind legs being badly strained. She was never 

 trained afterwards. All Hien conversant with horses, 

 know that it is no uncommon occurrence for them to 

 break down before, but this is the only instance I ever 

 knew of a horse breaking in both hind legs at one 

 time. Horses sometimes break their legs in running — 

 I have seen two or three instances of this, and on one 

 occasion I had an opportunity of ascertaining the 

 cause. The horses having come to the post to run, 

 they were started, and had not gone more than a 

 quarter of a mile before one fell and broke his leg. 

 The ground was in good order, but on examining that 

 part of it where tlie horse had fallen, it was clearly to 

 be seen, that the horse's toe had come in contact with 

 a small mole-hill, which had occasioned the accident. 

 Most training and running grounds with which I am 

 acquainted in the southern parts of England are very 

 hard. In the hot dry months of July and August, 

 such grounds produce great concussion and heat in 

 the feet of craving horses, which are mostly in strong 

 work ; and in proportion to the length and pace they 

 are obliged to go on such ground in their gallops and 

 sweats, many of them become more or less feeling in 

 their feet ; so much so that at last, the pace and length 

 cannot be got sufficiently well into them, so as to 

 bring them into their proper form. They are then 

 sold or put out of training ; and if their feet are much 

 injured from this sort of work, they are of little use 

 except for slow draught. The more training grounds 

 vary, as to hill and vale, the greater will be the variety 



