GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 11 



ment extended ; if with such speed he combines a quiet temper, 

 so as not to take more out of himself than is required by his 

 rider, he may, in an ordinary race of that description, gallop 

 a long time without being distressed, and, having thus hus- 

 banded his strength, have sufficient left in him to enable him 

 to win the race. 



Jumping is more a question of agility than of power, except 

 in young and unpractised horses, that tire more through their 

 awkwardness in leaping than through galloping; schooled 

 chasers, however, are required to put forth additional energy 

 only when the race is run at an inconveniently fast pace diffi- 

 cult for them to continue. 



To the practised jumper, on the contrary, the leap over a 

 fence of not extraordinary proportions, if taken at a moderate 

 pace, rather affords him time to recover his breath than causes 

 the waste of additional strength. Since the speedier horse 

 jumps at a slower pace than the slower stayer in proportion 

 to their respective degrees of speed, the former, equal cleverness 

 in jumping taken for granted, must necessarily consume less 

 strength than the latter. 



The steeplechase course, therefore, favors, caeteris paribw^, the 

 speedy horse as comj)ared to the slower stayer, and practice 

 daily shows us instances of horses that as non-stayers were use- 

 less on the flat become successful chasers, and, vice versa, stayers 

 on the flat which over a country fail to gain distinction. 



Intending regenerators of racing on what they consider more 

 rational principles, therefore, show a lamentable ignorance of 

 the nature of the horse when advocating the adoption of the 

 steeplechase as the test by which to gauge the capabilities of 

 the thoroughbred, and would, if they succeeded in their en- 

 deavors, attain only the exact reverse of what they aim at. 

 I would recommend those who still insist that steeplechasing 

 is more reliable than racing on the flat for the purpose of 

 ascertaining power and soundness in a horse to look round the 

 large steeplechase establishments in England, France, or even 

 Germany, and examine the legs of the horses kept for that 

 kind of work. The numerous patched-up screws that run and 



