GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.



year and the state of the ground-never run less than four and
a half nor more than seven furlongs; shorter races ruin their
temper more than those over longer distances, in which the
pace from the beginning is not so severe nor the start of so
much consequence.
  Whoever has had frequent opportunities for observing in a
racing-stable the development of two-year-old horses will, as
a rule, have noticed an evident change about the middle of
summer. They quite suddenly lose their foal-like appearance
and become young horses. In general this alteration takes
place at the same time as the shedding of the two middle teeth;
all at once the youngsters are better able to resist the wear and
tear of training and improve as the work agrees with them.
Of course this change does not occur simultaneously in all two-
vear-olds, although they may be equally well reared; neverthe-
less I have noticed at this period a greater degree of evenness
in the development of late and earlier foals than seemned war-
ranted, considering the difference in their respective ages.
  As, however, at midsummer the ground frequently is too
hard to admit of good work being done with two-year-olds
without danger to their legs,\I would advocate that the princi-
p)al races for horses of that age should not take place before the
autumn, when owners who have judiciously saved their young
animals during the summer may indemnify themselves through
richer prizes than were offered for competition in the earlier
part of the season.
  In principle I do not disapprove of running two-year-olds;
on the contrary, I take it, if done in moderation, to be an un-
erring means to ascertain the soundness of the constitution.
From midsummer-say first of August-I look upon such
races, according to the degree of development in the individual
horses, as useful; care must, however, be taken not to overdo
it, especially with fillies, whose temper is more excitable than
that of colts. I have generally noticed that mares which cred-
itably stood the test of two-year-old training also proved them-
selves superior at the stud. Taking, for instance, the most suc-
cessful brood-mares during the twenty years from 1860 to 1879,



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