64 Indian Racing Reminiscences. 



Captain Sampson's half- share of Quaker. Captain 

 Maxwell had the other half. 



My first efforts at training were attended by some 

 difficulties ; as the Lahore racecourse, which was the only 

 place fit to gallop on within reach, was more than three 

 miles distant from our " lines," while I had to be back 

 by sunrise every morning to be in time for parade. 

 Even had I had more leisure, it would not have mattered 

 much, for the weather was so hot that the horses would 

 have had to return, all the same, before the sun was well 

 up. Exercise in^ the evening, beyond an hour's walk, 

 was quite out of the question, for the parched plain, 

 when once heated, took many hours to cool down again. 

 I was always up before four o'clock in the morning, saw 

 the horses have a few go-downs of water and a double 

 handful of corn, and then we started for the racecourse 

 so as to arrive just as the day was breaking. As soon 

 as the work was finished, and I saw the horses were all 

 right, and had been scraped and wisped over, I got on 

 my charger, for I took care to be in uniform, and 

 cantered back in time to " fall in " on parade. 



It is a noteworthy fact that horses thrive well during 

 the months of extreme heat in the Punjab and North- 

 West, where, in the afternoon, the thermometer v/ill 



