CHAPTER V 



TRAINING AS IT WAS AND IS 



I AM far from claiming that we know so very much 



more than our ancestors did in regard to horses, 



though, of course, their methods of travelling 



horses about on foot from one meeting to another 



necessitated a wholly different scheme of training. 



Referring to an interesting work, entitled The 



Sportsman's Dictionary, published in 1807, I find, 



Hints from wilder the heading " Groom,'* instruc- 



^^^ tion which seems to me to be good for 



all time. It runs thus : 



" A man who looks after horses should demean 

 himself after so gentle and kind a manner towards 

 horses as to engage them to love him ; for a 

 horse is reckoned one of the most loving crea- 

 tures to man of all other brutes, and the most 

 obedient. 



** The groom ought to keep his horse so well 

 dressed, that he may almost see his own face upon 

 his coat, overlooking all his actions, as well feeding 

 as drinking, that so no inward infirmity may seize 



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