TRAINING QUARTERS 177 



put into steady work from that date. Before this, the 

 owner should have made up his mind as to what he 

 intends doing with them during the ensuing season ; 

 whether to run them early ; to wait for some particular 

 meeting later on ; or to gradually gallop them into con- 

 dition, as they work down country from one meeting to 

 another, which is the usual plan adopted, as the different 

 meetings are fixed to suit this arrangement. 



To perform well on a hilly course a horse that has 

 been accustomed to flat courses, ought, as a rule, to have 

 at least a month's work on it, so as to "get the hill" 

 into him. An instance of the beneficial effect of this 

 practice was strikingly shown by the moderate Malabar 

 (p. 153). I need hardly remind those of my readers who 

 have had long experience in training, that a horse with 

 naturally high action will require far less time to learn 

 how to climb a hill than a " daisy-cutter." At New- 

 market, many horses are spoiled for races on level ground 

 on account of having been given too much of their work 

 up a hill (p. 153). 



Perhaps the best thing to do with valuable horses is 

 to send them at the close of the racing season (the end of 

 March) to some semi-hill station, where, after a month or 

 six weeks' rest, they may be hacked about with a light 

 weight up, and got into good working order, before being 

 put into regular training. In this way they may be 

 healthier and fresher than had they remained in the 

 plains. 



The practice of sending horses which have spent the 

 hot weather and rains in the plains, as late in the year 

 as September, to places close to the hills, is often 



