ON PLATING RA€E-HORSES. 329 



kept in reserve to run for the great stakes at the prin- 

 cipal meetings, and they are mostly standing in home 

 stables, where, under the superintendance of training 

 grooms, more than usual care is paid to their feet ; and 

 as they neither travel so much nor run so often as 

 country plate horses, their feet (unless naturally defec- 

 tive,) are very strong, with plenty of horn. The shoeing 

 smiths who live in a racing neighbourhood, are gener- 

 ally good hands at plating horses, being constantly in 

 the habit of receiving instructions, and as constantly 

 cautioned by training grooms to be careful in fitting 

 the plates, preserving the feet and driving the nails. 

 These advantages, together with their own experience, 

 in plating the number of horses kept every year by 

 the noblemen and gentlemen of turf celebrity in the 

 different counties where racing is known to be so 

 universally patronized, render them so expert, that 

 with such feet as I have here described, they are sel- 

 dom liable to accidents in plating horses. Yet it is not 

 impossible but that an accident may sometimes happen 

 in plating horses, even in these stables. It may there- 

 fore be advisable to plate such horses as may have good 

 sound feet, and that are standing in stables close to the 

 running ground, the evening prior to their running, 

 after their coming in from exercise. On the morn- 

 ing that a horse is going to run, it is usual to walk him 

 out on the heath and there let him take a short canter, 

 merely to see if all is right, and if he is well on his 

 feet and legs. If the horse is observed by the groom 

 to go stiff or short, and if the groom is of opinion that 



