2i6 • Among Men and Horses. 



conformation and action of the animals at a race meeting 

 would be more carefully studied than the state of the odds. 

 We all know that racing cannot be carried on without bet- 

 ting ; for if that were stopped, the British public would with- 

 draw their patronage, and there would be no ' gate ' from 

 which to give the added money. ' What I likes about rac- 

 ing/ said a young so-called sporting publican, who was a 

 devoted student of the turf from a ' tape ' and ' price list ' 

 point of view, ' is to see my two " quid " coming into the 

 straight, a dozen lengths in front of everything, and all the 

 rest pulling up.' I may point out that other sports connected 

 with horses, such as hunting, polo, pigsticking, and Indian 

 paper- chasing are carried on without either betting or money 

 prizes ; but the interest taken in them is confined to horse 

 owners, or, at least, to persons who have some practical con- 

 nection with horses. Journalists know the tastes of those 

 for whom they write ; so, if we desire to learn what sort of 

 horse talk is most pleasing to the average Englishman, we 

 need only peruse the reports of race meetings in our daily 

 and weekly papers. In them we find the gambling aspect of 

 the case analysed with the most minute care, but not a word 

 is said about the horses themselves, beyond general expres- 

 sions of praise or disapproval. The very selection of the 

 reporters is enough to point out that exact knowledge of 

 horse flesh is not expected from them. Then again, let us 

 take the few of the average Englishmen who have enough 

 money to keep horses ; do they, I may ask, as a rule, buy 

 horses to break-in, ride, school, hunt, and make companions 

 of? Not once in a thousand times. If they do spend their 

 money on horses, they, in the vast majority of cases, keep them 

 for show, hand them over to the care of their grooms, coach- 

 men, or trainers, and then pose as lovers (?) of horses. I have 

 seen a great deal of true love for horses among impecunious 

 subalterns abroad, who often had to practise rigid economy 

 on their mess bills and other expenses in order to keep 

 their ponies, which they looked after like a hen would her 



