BUTCHER-BOY RIDING 171 



suggest that such races as these should be done 

 away with altogether, but certainly they ought not 

 to preponderate as they do at present. I am con- 

 vinced that horses would last quite as long on the 

 Turf running races from one up to two miles as 

 they do now continually running five furlongs. The 

 strain on them would not be half as great as is the 

 pillar-to-post driving to which they are now subjected. 

 Poor horses ! How sick they must get of it ! One 

 cannot wonder that so many run "shifty," considering 

 they are kept in such a state of irritation from the 

 moment the jockeys are mounted until they have 

 passed the winning-post. And such races are 

 ruinous to the riding of the jockeys. Indeed, there is 

 no riding, properly speaking, in it. In their anxiety 

 to get a good start the jockeys keep the horses 

 dancing about on their toes, which frets and excites 

 the animals, and, when the flag falls, it is " get home 

 first " somehow ! Fine horsemanship is next to 

 impossible under such circumstances. At any rate, 

 we very seldom see it. So many butcher-boys 

 could do mostly what is required, and it is butcher- 

 boy riding for the greater part. When I a few 

 years ago first gave expression to some of the 

 foregoing views I remarked how much more sport 

 and how much more pleasure one has in watching 

 a long race ridden by such jockeys as Tom Cannon, 

 John Osborne, Webb, and Watts, who know the pace 

 they are going, and can nurse and get a horse home 

 even if they have a little the worst of it. The 

 observation, since it applies at any time to our 



