HINTS TO YOUNG SPOETSMEN AND OTHERS. 3 



taught him all he wants to know, he will find he has 

 still much to learn- It is only then that, like a chess- 

 player when he has attained a certain proficiency, he 

 finds out how little he knows of the game — so, as 

 regards horses, to prevent his being mated at every 

 turn wiU be the object of these papers. 



I have stated in the title ^'young sportsmen and 

 others." By the term "young," it does not ne- 

 cessarily follow that the man coming into possession 

 of the means of keeping horses must be a youth. 

 The same want of knowledge would exist in the man 

 of fifty unaccustomed to such possessions ; and better 

 far for him would it be to know nothing than to just 

 know enough to make him self-sufficient, without 

 knowing enough to do him any good : he would, 

 most probably, from the very little he knows, have 

 formed erroneous opinions, and have come to wrong 

 conclusions, and will as probably persist in them til] 

 conviction is forced on him through the medium of 

 his pocket. The great difficulty in getting very young 

 persons to take advice rises from a little natural jea- 

 lousy of more experienced men underrating their 



B 2 



