PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. 51 



have all these last-mentioned appearances about 

 him, and yet he may not be in a fit state to run. 

 He may be short of work, as we have already 

 observed; he may not have done the necessary 

 lengths in it at the pace he ought; or he may 

 have been kept too long in strong work, and have 

 become rather stale ; or he may not have suffi- 

 ciently recovered, perhaps, from an attack of the 

 distemper ; and from any of those causes he 

 may be seven pounds or a stone below his proper 

 form, and yet, to the eye of a common observer, 

 he may be thought fit to run. I have met with 

 men, who profess to be very knowing on the turf, 

 rather too premature in making their remarks on 

 the appearances of horses at the post; some men 

 do not like bones, that is, they think some horses 

 are drawn too fine; others do not like horses 

 brought out too high, as having too much flesh 

 on them. However, those remarks are mostly 

 made by men who often know but little, or, 

 perhaps, nothing of such matters ; they are guid- 

 ed more by a theoretical sort of fancy than by 

 good, practical judgment. In fact, there are no 

 men who can, or at least ought to be so capable of 

 judging of the fitness or state, in all respects, in 

 which horses should be to race, as those who 

 have had the working, the feeding, and the wa- 



E 2 



