200 Indian Racing Reminiscences. 



viz: that a horse is one year old on the ist May 

 succeeding the date of his birth. When the actual 

 date of foaling was known, it was the custom to count 

 the period between that and the ist of May for 

 nothing in the case of English horses and country- 

 breds, although it was reckoned as a full twelvemonth 

 against the unfortunate Colonials. This confusion of 

 ideas was owing to the fact that the two dates in the 

 former case were in the same calendar j-ear, while in 

 the latter they were in different ones. 



To remedy these incongruities, Lord Ulick drew 

 up, on the English principle, an admirably constructed 

 table of weights for age and class, which were soon 

 adopted throughout India with general satisfaction. 

 The weights were varied according to the distances, 

 so that the longer the journey, the lighter was the 

 burden on the young ones ; and also for the different 

 months, so that the allowance to a colt diminished 

 as he gradually approached his next birthday. The 

 age allowances which are in force in England, Australia, 

 and the Cape respectively, were adopted for the horses 

 of those countries ; while the English scale was modi- 

 fied to suit Arabs and country-breds, who are more 

 backward when young than our own animals. The 



