BRITISH STABLES AND FOREIGN METHODS. 



549 



again behind a trusty animal, who will not tire them with too big a stride. The 

 Americans have introduced several sensible reforms in Newmarket stable-manage- 

 ment, which all tend in the direction of letting the racehorse enjoy himself in a 

 natural way, and forget that he is being artificially prepared to amuse other people. 

 The sand bath is perhaps as valuable as any of these ; at any rate, the intense 

 enjoyment many horses show in it must be as healthy as it is undoubted. The 

 success of an American trainer like Wishard, when he first came over, was due, as 

 far as I can judge, to his sympathetic knowledge and perception of what each horse 

 required in the way of treatment or of work, and to his realisation of the fact that 

 the horse was not a machine, but a creature with individual tastes that had to be 

 studied, with a character of its own, and with a natural preference for finding its 



By permission of " Country Life" 



Wishard 's Sand-bath. 



training-ground an amusing place where recreation as well as racing could be found. 

 Practice that was founded on such ideals could hardly fail to be successful when 

 it was the result of that careful attention to detail which the Americans bestow 

 on every form of sport they ever touch. 



The spare lot, whose engagements are still some time off, come out about 

 ten, and by the time their exercise is over, their mouths sponged out (with a touch 

 of disinfectant in the water used), and all put shipshape, the lads can go to dinner. 

 And so the days draw to their close, and the trainer turns in the evening to the 

 Racing Calendar, with a few more details to help him make up his mind about 

 those entries that are left to his discretion. His decision in turn counteracts upon 

 the programme of work for the next day or two. Some animals have to be "big" 



