" Schooling" 



" Horses," he says, " are like women : if you 

 let them get out of hand, you have immense 

 difficulty in bringing them to the scratch again." 

 Few are refractory when he is in the saddle. I 

 have seen him jump the regulation ditch almost 

 from a stand, and when hounds are running he 

 goes wonderfully well on what may be classified 

 as " raw material." All that means an instinctive 

 knack and splendid "hands." Nothing else can 

 do the trick in the style approved by connoisseurs. 



Assuming that a neophyte has attained fair 

 proficiency, we must certainly send him a nice 

 gallop of 2 miles over hurdles before he runs in 

 public, so that he may not make a hole in his 

 manners (or in his jockey) when he comes to a 

 serious struggle. Folly is shown by betting on 

 him until his jumping is all serene. Too much 

 is taken for granted sometimes in this connection. 

 For example, there are owners who, having seen 

 a three-year-old clear a hurdle pretty well, believe 

 that he is fit to run, and, accordingly, they put 

 up an able jockey to ride him when he knows 

 nothing about his business. Results are likely 

 to be shattering. My notion is that such an 

 impatient policy is to be contemned ; there is 

 little or no sense in it as regarded from a practical 

 view. " Schooling " ought to be done at home, 



247 



