234 HANDBOOK OF THE TURF. 



beneath. Whenever they become ulcerated, and are in such 

 position as to prevent the ordinary use of the harness or saddle, 

 they constitute an unsoundness. 



Sixty-mile Race. A famous race made in Deer Lodge 

 county, Montana, between a horse owned by Colonel Thornton, 

 and a " little short-legged horse called the Lizzard," owned by 

 Bailey & Hammond. Run in 1890. Distance sixty miles con- 

 tinuous running. The large horse took the lead from the 

 start, and held it up to the thirty-second mile, when Lizzard 

 commenced to close on him, had everything his own way after 

 the thirty-third mile, and won in four hours, forty-five minutes. 



Skeleton. A track wagon of four wheels, the w^heels 

 being of the high or old style, and also bike style w^ith pneu- 

 matic tire. 



On the Beacon and Centreville courses, wagons, in distinction from 

 sulkies or match-carts, must weigh 250 pounds. — Rules of the New 

 York Trotting Chib, September, 1841. 



I liave lately seen in a Boston warehouse a skeleton wagon that weighs 

 but fifty pounds. Such a veliicie might almost l)e described as a 

 work of" art.— Road, Track and Stable, H. C. Merwin, 1892. 



Skin. The external covering of the horse. It is com- 

 posed of two quite distinct sections, each, however, intimately 

 connected with the other. The first or inner part is called the 

 derm, a layer of interlacing filaments of fibrous tissue to which 

 the nerves and blood vessels are copiously distributed ; and the 

 second or outer section called the epidermis, non-sensitive, con- 

 taining no blood vessels, soft in its deeper or newly -formed 

 part, but dry and hard at the exposed surface. The hairs cov- 

 ering the skin grow from minute projections, cylindrical in 

 form, seated in the outer surface of the derm, the roots of 

 wiiich form little follicles or pits. The outer part, or epider- 

 mis, is continually being worn away at the surface, but is also 

 continually being renewed from the inner surface of the derm ; 

 or, as is the case with the hairs, thrown off entire. See Coat. 



Skin the Lranib. [Eng.] When a non-favorite wins a 

 race, bookmakers are said to " skin the lamb," under the sup- 

 position that they win all their debts, no person having backed 

 the winner. 



Skipping" Break. A break in gait that is not contin- 

 uous ; the act of quickly recovering, on the part of the horse, 

 at the very instant any change in gait occurs, from whatever 

 cause, and at once sti'iking the former gait ; a skip with one 

 foot, while the next takes its regular step. 



Skirts. Small flaps that cover the bars on which the 

 stirrup leathers are suspended to the saddle. 



