82 PREPARATION. 
of rest. Thus if you exercise at 5 A.M. the horses rest from 
8 until 4 P.M. and from 5 P.M. until 4 A.M, the latter a space 
of eleven hours. Whereas if your horses exercise at $ A.M, 
they are brought in at 11 A.M. and rest until 5 a.M. the next 
morning, a spell of eighteen hours, being an additional rest of 
seven hours, or more than the fourth part of a day—a division 
between rest and labour in my opinion excessive. Moreover 
by the former practice the stables are opened to receive the 
fresh and pure air twice a day instead of once; whilst your 
horses are enjoying themselves inhaling the same on the 
breezy downs, an additional incentive to the better enjoy- 
ment of their evening repast, when “ good digestion waits on 
appetite, and health on both.” 
To this point my observations have had special reference 
to two-year-olds. The older horses will now claim our 
attention. 
Their work is of necessity similar in most respects, but 
there are a few variations which should not be lost sight of. 
In the first place, it will be well to remind the reader that 
after a long winter old horses get very fat, as indeed do most 
others, even fatter than appearance would denote; and in 
this state great care is requisite in commencing their spring 
preparation. The ground then is heavy, and in anything but 
a fit state for galloping; yet the horses are fresh, and the 
boys falling off in all directions. From a long-continued 
frost the time is getting on for active work ; and with such 
incitement the trainers are often tempted to work the horses 
in an unfit state, commencing too suddenly and imposing 
tasks too severe, resulting in injury. This temptation is un- 
doubtedly the primary cause of many a breakdown; but 
whether from accumulation of fatty matter inside, or 
the want of faster exercise than can be given in the 
