1 68 COURSING 



beneficial than the reverse, and may prove an excellent initia- 

 tion, whereas the ordeal of the open with so large an entry 

 might very well settle all future hope for those that got to the 

 end of the stake. 



We now approach the much-vexed sapling question, viz. : — 



Do you think it prejudicial to the welfare of a sapling to 

 run him — 



(a) At an enclosed meeting, where the shield is moved 



half-way up the ground ? 

 {b) In the open ? 



The answers we have received to this query are so diverse 

 and diametrically opposed to one another that it is almost 

 impossible to arrive at a real consensus of opinion. For 

 instance, Mr. Uent . boldly declares that he would not hesitate 

 to run saplings, and that in so doing their career would not be 

 in any way prejudiced, bar accidents ; while Mr. J. L. Reed 

 and others are strongly opposed to running saplings under any 

 circumstances. Some see no harm in running them at en- 

 closures, but condemn open coursing ; whilst others — a more 

 limited band — hold that to run a youngster in the open, where 

 he has a fair chance of killing his hare, is preferable to the 

 first proposition, where they may use their hare to the escape, 

 and then be disappointed — which they are apt to remember, to 

 their owners' cost, when their legitimate running career com- 

 mences — an argument in which there is some sound common 

 sense, albeit the risks and dangers of over-exertion and heart- 

 breaking trials are so great under such circumstances that the 

 disadvantages must inevitably outweigh the advantages. 



Some hold that sapling-running is only detrimental when 

 training is involved, whilst others declare that it must be 

 injurious unless the youngster is well trained. Here we should 

 certainly fall in with the views of the latter section. To run a 

 sapling soft and quite untrained would surely be to court 

 disaster. On the other hand, be it understood, we should 

 not advocate a course of training such as would be given 

 a mature greyhound. In foregoing pages the method of a 



