HANDBOOK OF THE TURF. 289 



I have often seen men in ninning and trotting races both make a very 

 serious mistake, particularly in riding or driving what we call a 

 waiting race. Always remember that some other man nuiy have 

 the tools to do just as well with, as you can.— Life with the Trotters, 

 John Splan. 



Waive Weight and Distance, To waive weight and 

 distance in a race is to mutually disregard the rules; to go at 

 catch weight. It is often said that a race is under National 

 rules " waiving weight and distance." But no race under the 

 rules can be so made. A race either conforms to the rules 

 or it does not ; if any particular rule is waived no one can be 

 enforced. 



Walk. The slowest pace of the horse ; an elementary act 

 of progression is a step, a series of steps is the walk ; that pace 

 in which one foot is not raised until its fellow is upon the 

 ground, and in which the horse always has two feet upon the 

 ground at the same time, (whereas in the trot there is always 

 a space of time, of greater or less duration, in which all the 

 feet are off the ground), while the diagonal ones are being 

 advanced. A fast walk is the most valuable gait a horse can 

 acquire for general business purposes, and it has a great part 

 to perform in fitting a horse for rapid locomotion. Youatt 

 relates, in his work on the horse, that in 1793 a Hackney mare 

 named Sloven, travelled at a walk the distance of twenty-two 

 miles in three hours and fifty-two seconds. 



When the horse quickens his Avalk he does not at once change his pace 

 but extends his strides and makes them more uniform, until further 

 extension becomes difficult wlien lie will break into a trot in which 

 there are never more than two feet upon the ground at a time. — 

 The Horse in Motion, J. D. B. Stillman. 



Walk-over. A walk-over is a race in which all the con- 

 testants but one fail to appear. In order for him to win the 

 race it is necessary for him to go the whole distance prescribed ; 

 but as there is nothing to compete against him he may walk 

 the entire distance if he chooses. By the racing rules a walk- 

 over by any horse entitles him to only one half of the added 

 money in stakes. The trotting rules award no purse or added 

 money for a walk-over; but in a stake race a walk-over is 

 entitled to all the stake money and forfeit, unless the con- 

 ditions provide otherwise. 



Wall-eye. A horse is said to have a wall-eye when the 

 iris, (that part of the eye by which the light admitted to the 

 retina is regulated), is of a light or white color. 



Wall of the Foot. That portion of the front and 

 sides of the horse's foot extending from the coronet, (the 

 border-line where the skin joins the hoof), in an oblique direc- 

 tion, to the ground ; the crust ; the natural bearing part of the 



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