52 REVIEW—DARVILL ON THE TREATMENT AND 
require of their flesh, and to give tone and substance to the mus¬ 
cles of their bodies and tendons of their legs. Most of them will, 
more or less, draw fine in training, depending on the work they 
may be doing; and this, in the medium, is what we want, provided 
that they are hearty, and that they go cheerfully to their work; 
that their legs are cool, and in shape; and that they feed and 
drink well. We mean, by the above observations, that all horses 
in training should enjoy both their food and their work; if they 
be over-marked at either the one or the other, they will not come 
out to run in their best form.” A horse may be trained to run 
either a short or a long length: in either case he must occasion¬ 
ally go (while training) a little longer length in the concluding 
of his work than he will have to 2:0 in his race.” As to the 
^ o 
appearance of a horse in condition, when brought to the post to 
run, he should appear (if I may be allowed the expression) 
bloomingly ripe, fresh, and healthy in himself, clean, and un¬ 
loaded in his muscular surface from what is commonly called ‘ the 
waste and spare in other words, there should be neither in him 
nor on him any superfluous flesh or adipose membrane. He 
should be clear in his wind, kind and glossy in his skin, cool 
and clean on his legs, and, from behind the girths of his saddle, 
he should be straight and handsome in his carcass (if he is not too 
great a glutton); the muscles of his body should feel hard and 
springy to the touch, with a sort of projecting swell or substance 
in the body of them, and particularly those of his hind quarters, 
which should also appear as though they were distinctly divided 
from each other; his crest, not being too high, should feel firm 
and closely attached to his neck.” This is good sound doctrine, 
such as comes directly home to the minds of men of experience, 
and than which no better can be instilled into minds of inexpe- 
perience; but, sound and good as it is, as our author wisely ob¬ 
serves, it will not serve us in all cases, without knowing what 
work the horse has actually performed, and being acquainted with 
many other circumstances which the trainer alone can be privy 
to. In fact, there are no men who can, or at least ought to be 
so capable of judging of the fitness or state, in ail respects, in 
which horses should be to race, as those who have had the work¬ 
ing, the feeding, the watering of them. A training groom should 
never suffer himself to be led astray about the condition of his 
horses by the opinions of others.” If the training groom finds 
that his horses are not likely to suffer, either locally or constitu¬ 
tionally, from the work he may be giving them, and that they 
keep training on; that is, if he finds that his horses can go 
faster and stay longer at the pace by being drawn fine, the 
trainer will be right in stripping them of their superfluous flesh : 
still bearing in mind the circumstances which have already been 
noticed, viz. that his horses feed well, and go cheerfiiHij to their 
