196 SAM DARLING'S REMINISCENCES 



upon him, but that he (the groom) may be able to 

 discover it and endeavour to cure. The quahfica- 

 tions necessary in a groom are obedience, fidehty 

 and patience. 



" First he must love his horse in the next degree 

 to his master, and endeavour by fair usage to gain 

 a reciprocal love from him, and an exact obedience, 

 which, if he knows how to obey his master, he will 

 be better able to teach it to his horse, and both 

 one and the other are to be obtained by fair means, 

 rather than by passion and outrage." 



There is a good deal more to the same ef!ect, 

 but I have quoted enough to prove that horses 

 were not roughly treated in the old days any more 

 than they are now — at any rate, by sensible people. 



The methods of training were certainly strange, 



according to our ideas. Thus, under 



methods of the heading " How to order a horse 

 training t,,^ , -r^i ,, t i 



tor a Match or Plate, I read : 



" You should reserve a month at least to draw 

 his body perfectly clean, and to refine his wind to 

 that degree of perfection that is capable of being 

 attained by art. 



*' Take an exact view of the state of his body, 

 both outwardly and inwardly, whether he be low 

 or high in flesh. 



