RACI^'G, OK TURF HORSES. 241 



pint to a pint of the meal stirred into a bucket of water may now be 

 given to the horse, or water with the chill taken off it may be used as a 

 substitute for the gruel. When taken into the stable again, which will 

 be after a little "more walking about in the air, the legs are to be put in 

 tubs of warm water, the body clothing being kept on. The legs are then 

 to be well washed with the water and castile soap, and when dried off to 

 be bandaged. These bandages should be of light flannel, and it is imma- 

 terial whether it is red or white. They are not to be put on tight. The 

 legs of a horse ought never to be bandaged tight, for such a course im- 

 pedes the circulation into the feet, where there is a great necessity for it ; 

 but losing sight of this, the bandages are sometimes pulled so that it 

 looks as if they were intended to serve as a tourniquet, and stop the cir- 

 culation of the blood altogether. Neither can it serve any useful purpose, 

 that I can see, to bind the suspensory ligament up to the bone of the leg. 

 Nature intended that in the horse it should stand out from it, as we see iri 

 the fine flat legs of the best runners and trotters. Whatever support is 

 required may be obtained with only a moderate degree of tightness ; and I 

 have sometimes thought that an elastic stocking, such as our best surgeons 

 use in cases of bad strain to the nerves and muscles of the human foot 

 and ankle, would be a very useful article in a training-stable. 



DRIVING. 



The average farmer's boy supposes he can drive a trotting horse. Has 

 he not seen the pictures of drivers sitting back, apparently holding to the 

 reins with a grasp, as though the stronger the horse was pulled the faster 

 he could go ? Such driving never got speed out of a horse. The best 

 drivers simply allow the horse to pull on the bit with sufficient force to 

 steady himself, and this pulling force must be gi-aduated according to 

 circumstances. It is true many fast horses are hard pullers, and gener- 

 ally so from defects in training. The bit and reins are intended simply 

 as the medium of communication between the horse and the driver, and 

 the more intelligently the horse is trained to their use, the more will be 

 got out of him. The horse should be taught to take a firm hold of the 

 bit, not for the purpose of pulling upon, but that the driver may give the 

 horse needed support and steadiness, and that intelligent action may be 

 established between the driver and the horse. 



The object of keeping the horse well in command during fast work, on 

 the road as well as on the track, is that he may instantly respond to the 

 wish of the driver through the medium of the reins. Thus he may be 

 pressed from day to day in his speed, until he at last comes to the full 

 measure of his powers. 



Although trotting speed does not come to the horse until some years 



