200 ON TRAINING GROUNDS. 



working on turnpike and paved roads. It is certainly 

 true, that many horses' feet are naturally so perfect and 

 so well formed, as not only to require but very little 

 care and attention to be paid to them, but the feet of 

 many of them are so strong and well formed, as scarcely 

 ever to be affected by hard ground, although kept in 

 strong work. When race-horses have such very good 

 feet, the harder the ground is, the better some of them 

 have appeared to me to like it ; for when fresh, they 

 have seemed to enjoy shaking their toes in a gallop. 

 It may be fancy in me, but I often used to think, when 

 a boy, riding exercise, that many such horses like to 

 hear their feet tell and rattle on the ground as they 

 were going along; and I confess I rather like the sort 

 of race-horse that can come a running pace over hard 

 ground. I have now described, in the best manner I 

 am able, the different training grounds in England, 

 Ireland, and Scotland, and have given my opinion of 

 the advantages in favour of race-horses' feet, when 

 they are working over such training grounds as have 

 a soft and elastic surface, as those in the different 

 counties I have mentioned, and which are to be pre- 

 ferred to the hard surfaces (in summer) of many of 

 our training grounds in the south of England. 



