i8; 



CHAPTER XII 



Suitable site for a breeding establishment — Dressing the land- 

 Buildings and paddocks — Mr. Dollar's plan and description — The 

 sire and the dam — The Foal : feeding and treatment — Mr. Dollar 

 on training stables — The structures : their appointments, ap- 

 pliances, and fittings — The Park House stables — Education of the 

 yearling — First lessons — Step by step progress — The system of 

 Capt. M. H. Hayes — An experiment — Porter's verdict — 'The 

 trainer's anxious time ' — The forcing method denounced — The 

 race-horse leaves home — Risks of travel — The old and new system 

 contrasted — Anecdote of Sir Joseph Hawley — ' The fall of Wolsey ' 

 — Arrival at the place of sport — End of the trainer's duties — The 

 race 



' In selecting a site for laying out a breeding establish- 

 ment for thoroughbreds, the first thing to be con- 

 sidered is the nature of the soil. There is, in my 

 opinion, no hard and fast rule to be followed in 

 making your choice, but soft, spongy land should be 

 avoided. Old pasture, of sound quality, such as may 

 be found at Leybourne Grange and at Eaton, is the 

 kind of thing that is required. I believe the surface 

 and subsoil of the land at these well-known breeding 

 places are different, the one consisting of a fair 

 depth of loam on Kentish rag or limestone, and 

 the other of clay on sandstone. 1 Each, however, 



1 ' My own observation tends to the conclusion that the finest bone 

 comes as a rule from the best grass, which, it is well known, is raised 

 on a limestone substratum, after which that of the red sandstone has 

 been reckoned the best.' — Mr. Joseph Osborne in Horse- Breeders' 

 Handbook, 



