NATURE OF EXERCISE 149 



carried. No amount of trotting or walking can prove an 

 efficient substitute for galloping, of which exercise the 

 trainer should endeavour to give his horses as much as 

 possible, under certain reservations, to which I shall 

 presently allude. 



In order that fast work may be given with safety, the 

 horse should be gradually accustomed to it; the golden 

 rule here being that the length of a horse's gallop should 

 never exceed the distance which he can go, at the time 

 being, without his muscles becoming fatigued, or — which 

 is the same thing — without his becoming ''blown;" for 

 neither man or horse are ever so " beat " as when they are 

 " out of wind." In fast work, the suspensory ligaments 

 are particularly liable to sprain. In my "Veterinary 

 Notes for Horse Owners," I have alluded to this point as 

 follows : " When the horse is fresh and untired, the 

 muscles to which the perforans and perforatus tendons 

 are attached, contract with such precision that the foot is 

 ' picked ' up (flexed) before undue strain can fall on the 

 suspensory ligament ; in fact, these tendons act as assistant 

 braces to it. But if the pace be continued, the horse will 

 'dwell' more and more in his stride, and as the two 

 muscles which move the tendons become gradually 

 fatigued, they also become unable to contract with 

 sufficient quickness to save the suspensory ligament from 

 undue strain. Besides this, the muscles get tired, but 

 the ligament does not experience the sensation of fatigue ; 

 hence the horse throws weight on the latter to save the 

 former. We may easily imagine how great this strain 

 must be in the case of a race-horse struggling home 

 during a desperate finish. When the muscles which flex 



