GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.



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, fkvors, cwteris paribus, the
speedy horse as compared 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 Hers&, 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 adoptioii 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 steepleehasing
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



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