HEALTHY EXERCISE. 59 



especially with horses that have passed their youth, which is 

 essentially the period of speed. Hence we often find that if 

 fast racehorses are put out of work for a considerable time, 

 they generally suffer a far greater loss of speed than could be 

 accounted for by increased age. The poor form shown by 

 the once famous Signorina on her return to the turf, after 

 having proved a failure at the stud, is a good case in point. 

 Experience proves that speed in either man or beast can be 

 maintained after youth has passed, only by constant practice. 

 In this connection, the names of Reindeer, Herald, Tommy 

 Tittlemouse, Regal and Gamecock will occur to racing men ; 

 those of Flora Temple and Highflier to trotting men ; and 

 those of Jackson the American Deer, Choppy Warburton, 

 Williamson, H indie, and Harry Kelly to lovers of pedes- 

 trianism and rowing. Flora Temple did her fastest mile 

 when she was seventeen years old, Williamson was running 

 in Sheffield Handicaps up to the age of forty-five, and 

 Jackson was able to beat fifty-five minutes for ten miles 

 when he was over fifty ; but all these horses and men kept 

 continually on the track durrng their respective careers. 

 Therefore, if we wish to preserve a horse's speed, we should 

 on no account throw him out of work, unless we were forced 

 to do so, as for instance by his becoming unsound. 



Dr. Vaughan Harley (Lancet, 1884, Vol. i., p. 1199) points 

 out that less muscular work can be done at 9 a.m. than at 1 1 

 a.m. ; that muscle power rises from the former hour to the 

 latter ; and that there is a notable fall in it at 4 p.m. I am 

 inclined to think that the same rule holds good with horses. 

 The daily decline in strength appears to be due to the 

 accumulation of waste nitrogenous matter in the blood, and 

 consequently fatigue is then produced with abnormal readi- 

 ness. It is evident that the best time for giving strong daily 

 exercise is at an hour when the bodily strength is at its 

 highest degree. 



