GENERAL RULES FOR WORK DURING TRAINING i8i 



Horses should not be kept too long on hard food, and 

 the trainer should never be afraid of giving them a bunch 

 of lucerne or a few carrots. 



If a horse in strong work begins to leave much of his 

 corn untouched, say anything over ^ lb. at each feed, 

 the chances are that he is getting too much work, which 

 should be lessened, or altogether stopped, as the case may 

 require ; and he should have two or three bran mashes at 

 successive feeding hours, some green meat, or even an 

 alterative ball, if he be at all " over-marked." The time a 

 horse takes to eat his allowance of corn may be used as a 

 measure of his appetite. Thus, say a certain horse, who, 

 after work, usually consumes his morning feed of 4 lbs. in 

 25 minutes, takes on a particular day half an hour to get 

 through the same amount, the owner may reasonably con- 

 clude that he is a little off his feed. By observing such 

 indications in time, the chances of over- working a horse 

 will be materially lessened. 



" It is well known to horsemen who are close observers 

 that, though a horse cannot make a great race when 

 decidedly off the feed, some of the finest efforts that ever 

 were made, and some of the greatest successes that ever 

 were won, came just as the horse was beginning to get 

 dainty, and to pick and nibble at the oats." {Hiram 

 Woodriif.) 



A horse should never be fully extended earlier than a 

 fortnight before the day on which he has to run, for if this 

 is done, he will be apt to get slow. Yet for all that, he 

 should be sent along pretty fast, occasionally, during the 

 latter part of his training, in order to vary the monotony 

 of the work, " and to get the pace into him." 



