190 TRAINING IN INDIA. 



These canters may be given two or three times a 

 week. On two other days, the monotony of the work 

 may be broken, by taking the horse out in the country, 

 and then trotting, cantering, and walking him by turns 

 for eight or nine miles. This will keep him fresh, and 

 in good spirits ; for he appreciates an " outing " and 

 change of scene, just as much as we do ourselves. 



After these two months of preparatory work, the 

 horse's muscles and sinews will have begun to harden, 

 and he may now be put to regular galloping. 



Want of preparatory work, before giving horses 

 regular gallops, is but the too frequent cause of break- 

 downs. 



The work I shall now consider, is that which would 

 be suitable for an ordinary Australian. An Arab's 

 gallops might be a quarter longer. With him, a long 

 slow gallop for two and a half or three miles might 

 from time to time be substituted for the short " spurts." 

 In timing, allowance should be made for the fact of the 

 Arab's comparative slowness. Thus, for instance, a 

 second-class Arab that could do at weight for age a mile 

 in 1 m. 57 s., i.e., say 9 s. worse than a second-class 

 Colonial, ought in a gallop, at conventional half speed, 

 over that distance, to take about 15 s. longer than 

 would the Australian under similar conditions ; for, of 

 course, the difference of time between the two, at half 

 speed, would be nearly double that between them when 

 fully extended, the distance being the same in both 

 cases. 



It is not without considerable hesitation that I give 

 illustrative timing ; for I know well what a large 

 margin mast be allowed under varying conditions de- 



