TRAINING QUARTERS. 1*79 



be put into steady work from that date. Before this, 

 the owner should have made up his mind as to what he 

 intends doing with them during the ensuing season ; 

 whether to run them early; to wait for some particular 

 meeting later on; or to gradually gallop them into 

 condition, as they work down country from one meeting 

 to another, which is the usual plan adopted ; as the 

 different meetings are fixed to suit this arrangement. 



To perform well on a hilly course a horse that has 

 been accustomed to flat courses, ought, as a rule, have 

 at least a month's work on it, so as to " get the hill " 

 into him. An instance of the beneficial effect of this 

 practice was strikingly shown by the moderate Malabar 

 (see page 154). I need hardly remind those of my 

 readers who have had long experience in training, that 

 a horse with naturally high action will require far less 

 time to learn how to climb a hill, than a "daisy cutter." 

 At Newmarket, many horses are spoiled for races on 

 level ground, on account of having been given too much 

 of their work up a hill (see page 154). 



Perhaps the best thing to do with valuable horses 

 is to send them at the close of the racing season (the 

 end.of March) to some semi-hill station, where, after 

 a month or six weeks' rest, they may be hacked about 

 with a light weight up, and got into good working 

 order, before being put into regular training. In this 

 way they may be healthier and fresher than had they 

 remained in the plains. 



The practice of sending horses which have spent 

 the hot weather and rains in the plains, as late in the 

 year as September, to places close to the hills, is often 

 accompanied by some risk, as the nights there are 



