86 TREATMENT OF HORSES 



lengths for any of the above mentioned plates 

 or stakes, although they occasionally vary, do 

 not often exceed two miles ; nor is it an invari- 

 able rule at even these lengths to run heats. 



As these hearty horses are not often en- 

 gaged to run under high weights or long 

 lengths at heats, they generally arrive, as I have 

 already noticed, fresher at the home stables in 

 autumn than the craving horses ; and as they are 

 more speedy than the last mentioned, they are 

 (previous to being laid by) the horses from which 

 one or two of the most superior runners among 

 them are selected, to try any of the two year 

 olds, or any horses that may have been longer at 

 home, and which it may be thought necessary to 

 try, to see what such horses may be entered into 

 in the following spring ; or perhaps to ascertain 

 whether they may be worth keeping in training 

 or not. But it is to be observed, that those 

 horses of the second class, on their return in the 

 autumn, are not to be considered to be in a 

 fit state immediately to try other horses, but 

 should have ten days or a fortnight's rest, if 

 necessary. When I say that these are to rest, 

 it is not to be understood that they are to lie by 

 and do nothing; I mean by the word " rest," that 



