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, I NEW AUSTRALIAN RACING INVENTION. How often one sees a horse going well in a race ! at one moment, and looking to have a big chance, only to he in difficulties immediately afterwards. Iu many eases the explanation forthcoming is that the saddle slipped, or. as in the instance of Epsom I.ad in the Eclipse Stakes, that it broke, his rider, Comez, holding it together with one hand, ami, despite this drawback, succeeding in winning the race by a head from Ian, which in turn was only a head in front of Disguise. Eor one race won in such circumstances, however, many are lost. Mishaps of the kind are mostly due either to the undue strain caused by tight girthing, or to the horse swelling himself out when being saddled, and thus counteracting the endeavor to girth him up sufficiently. Hitherto, moreover, tight girthing has been responsible for various evils, girth-gall for example, while in many cases the pressure of the girth, by preventing the respiratory organs from having full play, means all the difference between winning and losing races. Many horses that have gained a reputation for .intrust worthiness, thanks to a simple invention that comes from Australia, have redeemed their past out there by winning races, especially races run over a long distance of ground, in which absolute freedom in breathing is till the more requisite. The invention, which has lx?en patented by Messrs. Watson and Cutmann in most countries, is. like all g.xid things, so simple that one wonders no one has thought of it l ofore, for it consists only in a few inches of strong elastic let into the webbing of the girths, surcingles, and rollers. This elastic is of double the strength of the webbing, and it does away with the necessity of extremely tight girthing. At the same time, as can be readily appreciated, it allows the horse his natural breathing expansion, thus enabling him to travel faster and last longer than when tightly girthed in the ordinary way. One might just as well expect a pedestrian to win races if tightly lacod up in a corset as for horses to score despite the disadvantages arising out of girths drawn, as one at times sees them, so tightly as to divhle the barrel-line into two distinct parts. The new-invention has been given every trial both in jumping and flat racing in Australia, with eminently satisfactory results. In addition to reducing the pressure, and thereby conducing to the comfort of horses, it minimizes the chancs of girth gall and of the souring of their tempers. The whole idea of the patent girth seems to be so g x d that in the interests of our thoroughbreds, and also hunters and steeplechasers, it may be well to mentiou that many of the best-known trainers in Australia have adopted it. — London Sportsman.
