MODEJIN FARRTEll. 2^1 



liis utmost performance. There are some styled. 

 good tvhipped horses, which absolutely will not run 

 without the stimulus of the whip and spur, and 

 which they take with the utmost non clmlance and 

 forbearance. But even with these, excess, as in all 

 other cases, defeats its proposed end ; and when a 

 horse has reached his utmost possible point of exer- 

 tion, it is indisputable that all the whipping and 

 spurring which could be administered b}^ the arms 

 and legs of even that butcher on horseback. Jack 

 Oakley, were he now living, could not push him 

 one hair's breadth beyond. There is another mate- 

 rial consideration, too little attended to ; the effect 

 which severity must have upon a horse in the 

 above-mentioned state — say, for example, upon the 

 stoutest and best-whipped liorse. Granting that 

 they w^ho use this severity have any rational or re- 

 flective motive, it can be no other than to keep the 

 horse up to his mark. But surely heart-oppressing 

 and deadening discouragement cannot do this, and 

 despair itself may fail ; and the horse, confounded, 

 yet still willing to make farther exertion if possible, 

 may be more likely to lift himself up and 'lose 

 ground, than be able to maintain his stroke. 

 . A true runner may endure the whip and spur in 

 moderation, but has a most resentful and indignant 

 stomach on their abuse, which never fails to make 

 him careless and indifferent in his exertions, and 

 €ven to abate in his speed the instant abuse takes 

 place. 



125. Carrying Weights. 



It is generally believed by sportsmen, that even 

 three pounds difference in weight will make a horse 

 win or lose ; but it is very difficult to conceive how 

 such a very slight difference can have such influence 

 in the deciding of a race. Were horses always 

 €qual in vigour and wind, such nice calculations 

 il 2 H 



