146 HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP 



Point-to -Point Racing 



There are quite a considerable number of people 

 who believe that point-to-point racing makes 

 horses "hot" and ruins their manners. But I 

 can assure them that such is not the case. Horses 

 when reaching the ground upon which they do 

 their gallops will sometimes show a little excite- 

 ment (particularly if they associate the gallop 

 with whip and spur). Even in such a case their 

 so-called keenness is merely unwillingness to ap- 

 proach the training ground. But take them away 

 from that association and their excitability vanishes. 

 Most polo ponies walk on to the polo ground most 

 unwillingly. If galloping made horses '' hot," then 

 we should see them jumping about and creating 

 all sorts of trouble. Even " blood " two-year-olds, 

 who often give much bother at the starting gate, 

 can be seen daily in their strings walking or trotting 

 about quite quietly. 



And so it is with a hunter. A horse that is 

 quiet with hounds will be always so, whether he 

 has run a point-to-point race or not. I put this 

 matter to the test once in the following way. I 

 had a mare who was as " hot " as you make 'em, 

 and I had had to spend weary months in getting 

 her to jump her fences quietly. I entered her one 

 day for a steeplechase, and I was urged not to 

 by my friends, who told me I should undo all the 

 good I had previously done. In the race she simply 

 " eat up " her fences, but the next time I asked 

 her to jump a rail collectedly there was no difficulty 



