DOCKING & CROPPING CONDEMNED 271 



1750, was prompted by an urgent necessity for 

 a body of responsible Turf administrators with 

 power "to order thievish persons to keep 

 away." 



I believe it is not generally known, except 

 among persons versed in Turf history, that prior 

 to the inauguration of the Derby and the Oaks it 

 was quite exceptional for three-year-old horses to 

 be raced at all. Before that time the three-year- 

 old was looked upon more or less in the same way 

 that to-day we look upon the yearling. 



Indeed early in the eighteenth century but few 

 horses were run when very young. In William 

 and Mary's reign some of the most important 

 races were won by six-year-olds, and we find 

 allusion to a six-year-old plate that must have been 

 run for at about this time. Nearly all the long 

 races were still run in heats, and some of the 

 horses entered were nine, ten, twelve and even 

 more. 



The practice of cropping manes and docking 

 tails was expressly condemned by Queen Anne, 

 also by one of the Georges, probably George III. 

 Berenger, in his " History and Art of Horse- 

 manship," published in 1 77 1, observes that "the 

 cruelty and absurdity of our notions and customs 

 in 'cropping,' as it is called, the ears of our 



