EVILS OF “BIG” CONDITION. 97 
for it after, and retain their form not merely for weeks or 
months but years, I will give one instance, which I think 
should be sufficient to establish the truth of my argument. 
Three of the horses that ran at Goodwood ran afterwards at 
Ayr in six races, winning five. Other stakes were likewise sub- 
sequently won by the others that ran there. Mr. H. Robinson 
used to say, “I like my horses to run big with plenty of 
work.” So do I, and I should like to know who does not; 
but the thing is not possible. What do we work our horses 
for, but to try and remove the fatty matter? Unless this be 
done, you may as well keep them in the stable, for a “fat,” 
or if the term be preferred, a “ big’ horse must tire. It is not in 
the nature of things that he should do otherwise. He is not 
only a little big to all intents and purposes, which is clearly 
seen; but he is internally burdened with a weight of fatty 
incumbrance, his breathing is obstructed by adipose matter 
which rightly can only be removed by work. Without going 
so far as to say that after a certain period of preparation is 
reached before completion, every pound lighter the animal is 
by that amount he is so much the better, yet it is clearly an 
approximation to the truth of the principle I advocate ; for 
what does not assist progression, retards it. A severe pre- 
paration, some will say, is the cause of breaking down many 
horses that would otherwise stand and run for many races. 
This is a proposition I am not exactly prepared to admit or 
deny. Hzstorian ran under a severe preparation till ten years 
old ; whilst others we see are continually breaking down when 
young under a more lenient system. But, for argument’s sake 
—admit as a fact that some horses do so break down, yet 
surely in doubtful cases it is far better for them to break down 
at home before you have backed them, than in the race, with the 
mortification of a double disappointment, losing the race and 
H 
