HANDBOOK OF THE TURF. 107 



Gentlemen's Driving Race. A race open to horses 

 kept for driving purposes only, driven by their non-professional 

 owners, to road carts. 



Gentling". A word used to denote the first acts of train- 

 ing, handling, and educating the colt. The term is one which 

 should enforce the importance of gentleness in the first lessons 

 of colt education, as bad habits come from bad early training, 

 or first wrong impressions. 



Gestation. The act of carrying or being with young. 

 The period of gestation with the mare is eleven months ; but 

 tables show the shortest period to be 322 days ; the longest 

 period, 419 days; the mean period, 317 days. Records also 

 show that three hundred mares went an average period of 343 

 days, with a range of sixty-one days between the shortest, (309 

 days), and the longest, (370 days), period. 



Gift. [Law.] In order to legally transfer a horse by 

 gift, the animal must be actually delivered to the donee. 



Girdles. Used to denote that structural part of the 



anatomy of the horse by means of which the limbs or locomo- 



tory members are attached to the trunk. 



These girdles are so called because a pair of them, when completely 

 developed, nearly encircle the body ; but it must be a(hiiitted tliat it 

 is not a very liappy expression, as, except throngh the intervention 

 of tlie vertebral co'lnmn, they never form com]>lete circles, and very 

 often tlie "semi-girdles" of each side are widely separated both 

 above and below. Tiiese semi-girdles are sometimes called arclies. — 

 The Horse, William Henry Flower, C. B. 



Girth. A leather strap passing under the belly of a 

 horse for the purpose of securing the saddle or a part of the 

 harness in place. The main saddle girth should be broad and 

 soft with a reinforced backing. 



Girth liine. A line encircling the body of a horse at a 

 point just back of the withers, and four inches back of the fore 

 legs. 



Give and Take. An old term used to describe a race 

 in which horses carried weight according to their height. The 

 standard height was taken at fourteen hands, and the horse 

 that height was obliged to carry nine stone, (126 pounds). 

 Seven pounds were taken from the weight for every inch below 

 fourteen hands, and seven pounds added for every inch above 

 fourteen hands. A few pounds additional weight was regarded 

 as so serious a matter, that it was said seven pounds in a mile 

 race Avas equivalent to a distance. 



Give Him a Repeat. A term used in working a horse 

 when he is given a dash of two miles, the words meaning an 

 exercise of a mile and repeat. 



