OWNERS AND TRAINERS. 41 



then train them to- that particular disanee, remains 

 to be seen. How many horses I have known within 

 the space of, say, some half-dozen years that could 

 cover distances, varying from five furlongs to a mile 

 and a quarter, and in a short time became utterly 

 ruined through being raced out of their distance, 

 and on gradients upon which their powers were al- 

 most useless, I should be afraid to say, but they 

 would run into a large number. 



There is hardly a more sensitive animal than a 

 race-horse, and few with half his intelligence. At 

 five furlongs you might have a colt possessing very 

 great speed on a level course. Your trainer, and 

 yourself probably too, might have thought that he 

 can be made a useful miler. Accordingly he is 

 trained for it, and galloped on all sorts of gra- 

 dients — which are supposed to develop his muscles in 

 the right places, strengthen his wind, and make him 

 stay. Before very long you are told the colt is not 

 doing well. He has shown currishness in his work, 

 and at times refuses to gallop. He is sent, notwith- 

 standing, to take his chance in a mile race, with the 

 result that he gets hopelessly beaten. If he is not 

 now sold for what he will fetch, he returns home to 

 undergo the usual corrective — viz., to be added to 

 the list. 



In ninety-nine cases out of every hundred of this 

 kind the fault is in the training and management of 



