64 TREATMENT OF HORSES 



place the above mentioned horses and mares in 

 the different stables of a public training estab- 

 lishment, according to their respective ages, as 

 young ones or old ones. It may not be out 

 of place here to observe, that a race horse, like 

 any other horse, is of age at five years old, as 

 a man is at twenty- one; but if a race horse 

 continues to run on until he is six or seven 

 years old, he is usually considered in racing an 

 aged horse, (although not eight years old), and 

 he is therefore considered in the stables an old 

 horse. As different horses arrive at the home 

 stables, they are to be classed off in them, ac- 

 cording to the condition they may be in, and 

 the running properties they may each possess. 

 The first class to notice are the craving ones, 

 which are mostly found to be running in the 

 summer as plate horses; they are four, five, and 

 six years old; they are of strong constitutions, 

 and many of them have been much accustomed 

 to strong work in their training; and in their 

 running, they have often had to come heats of 

 long lengths under high weights, as for ex 

 ample, in running for many of his Majesty's 

 plates. Such horses, on their return to the 

 home stables, are, many of them, drawn fine, in 



