view raw text
Qii t ; me . j , 1 ner : j n , hi so and . by " or A, l" out , j" jr je 1, j, bill -jj a, and tL , j tl . not j t t. J.. n ;, t J",, in " j he ol on j; i,i Kl 0. of a lr s f, ii j, ; tl tl s 0 a c K t; j, y t a at , f c e i a . t i j v t , . . ,. 1 f : j i j , 1 : . ; ; J ; : : : ; ? t " ? j 1 " " f - a i f J s f I I - I li - s a ii 5 e " r in II " " , " , e , " ;e rc rt r all 1 his is fs six x ;n u of Bf st s- y. :i- in m OLD-TIME METHODS OF TRAINING. w was ra Quaint Description of Remarkable Courses of Treat- tv ment to Which Horses Were Subjected. ale. to Perhaps the oldest detailed directions extant for for training a race horse are fund in "The Parfait j. Mareschal" a rare old book by Sieur de Solleysell, 1 be equerry to Louis XIV. of France, who said that he , obtained them from "a brave cavalleer, who assured t, the he had it in England from a person whose only tj the imployment was to prepare and dyet running Cf horses." Sir William Hope, who translated Solley-sells to work into English in 1C00, expressed the t0 to opinion that this method of training was then very be ancient saying: "It differetli vastly from the man- be u of preparing race horses used now a dnyes." jw be That the British race horse was then, as now, in- n comparable for swiftness, though neither the "royal jy mares" nor stallions that are the generally ac- j,, credited fountain heads of the present-day breed of p, runners had yet been imported into England, np- j,, pears from the advice given as to the choice of a pi horse for running. , "In England," says the author, "they have horses , which are only designed and kept for performing the to great courses, and they delight so much in this SI divretisement that they dyet 1 uirses expressly for it, ! it that their horses, which are naturally well winded C extremely swift, are put into such a condition j be this manner of preparation that they perform j, in. courses which are incredible, and that not at a slow xv round gallop, as our horses, but at full speed, so that people who have never seen it can scarcely be ti perswaded that any horse could endure and hold a n with the violence of such courses for five or six t miles, and yet many horses in that kingdom are ., known to furnish carriers of that length." t. In the time of the old English jockey whose jj it. training methods have been handed down by Solleysell, hay and oats, which now constitute the , diet of the high-mettled racer, were not on his s, of fare. The trainer of that day, like Captain j, Jinks of the Horse Marines, fed his horse on corn beans, made up into loaves like bread, the ft term corn, in England, comprehending all small 0 grain. j, in "Cause make bread for him of half barley and half beans, baking them in the form of pretty a thick cakes.." the old English jockey says, "and t giving them to the horse until they are a few ., days old. Three pounds at twelve a clock and j, three pounds at night is sufficient for him in s twenty-four hours and that in place of his oats or j provender. Instead of hay lot him have wheat , sheaves unthreashed and with the oats upon them." j It is worthy of note that many trainers of run- c ners and trotters today feed little or no hay. but substitute oats cut "in the milk" and cured, straw. s grain arid all, like hay. The practice originated 0 California, hence the term "California hay." t After thus "dyeting" the racer four days, while s was kept in darkened stall, it was in order, j the morning of the fifth day, to give him a j ball. This was made by mixing one pound of fresh j butter with twenty-five or thirty "cloves" of garlic, and was to be washed down with a quart , white wine. , On the second day after administering the ball t the trainer was directed to "air him abroad just after sun rising for the space of an hour, and as c much at night before sunset, sometimes racking or ; stepping and sometimes galloping him, but, if lie . continued too fat, then you must take him abroad , the morning an hour after sun rising and in , the evening keep him also abroad an hour after 1 the sun is set; then, bringing him back to the j stable, rub and cover him well and give him his ordinary portion of food. And thus continue to air and exercise him every day, giving him always every fifth day his pound of butter made up with , garlic into balls, and also observing not to air or . take him abroad, neither the day he taketh his j halls nor the day following." , Fifteen days after going into training the horse j was to be exercised two hours in the morning and , two hours at night, "sometimes at full speed, then a good gallop, and afterwards at a step, that so j lie may recover his wind." One mouth of this work was deemed sufficient to fit some horses for a match, but the trainer was , cautioned to continue the balls and the bread and ! exercise as directed, unless the animal appeared to be ready at the end of four weeks. Two days before the match the horse was muzzled at night, and at two ocock in the morning was given three pints of sack, into which the yolks of , twenty or twenty-five new-laid eggs had been 1 beaten. At four oclock he was galloped, gently at first and then at full speed, "as long as his wind , will allow it; afterwards to a gentle gallop, again to give him wind." This for three hours, followed by a rub down and then by a hot drink and the usual feed. On the day of the match the racer got his former quantity of eggs and sack, but only one-half his usual allowance of bread and wheat sheaves. The final injunction of the old English jockey is particularly interesting, as showing that Tod Sloan was perhaps not, after all, the originator of the style of riding now known in England as "the American seat," and that the principle of avoiding the resistance of the atmosphere was better understood by the horsemen of three or four hundred years ago than by some of those who pass as such today. Here it is: "The rider is to lean a little forewards to prevent the wind taking too much upon his body, and also 1 to have cloathes very light and fit for him, but no flying or loose coat, only a cap in place of a hat." Much more elaborate, intricate and artificial is i the course of treatment laid down by Sir AVilliam Hope in his directions for training a. horse for a l match. This lie recommends in preference to the old English jockeys method as more modern, "which i I have had experience of myself, and is, I believe, . indeed one of the best which hath been as yet pub- lished." Two months was the time allowed by him for pre- paring a horse for a match. He says that some f horse keepers demand six months, but these he ; charges with the not yet obsolete practice known as ! "training owners," and embraces the opportunity r to read them a lecture on the mistake "by which i they rob their masters of four months pleasure, , engadge him in an expensive charge, which will 1 make the sport loathsome, and only give them a i few false got crowns, which vanish so soon as i gained. "As hereticks cite Scripture." he says, "so these ; people find reasons to defend their want of skill and 1 experience as the danger of too violent excrcise.the offence of grease too suddenly melted, the moving of humors too hastily, which leads to mortal sickness, and the moderating and helping of all these by a slow proceeding, or bringing the horse into order by degrees and time, or, as I may rather say, by an ignorant delay and sufferance. It is like the curing of a gangeren in an old man. Retter to die than be dismembered, better lose the prize or bets than bear the charges, for I appail to any noble judgment whose purse hath experienced such actions, if six months preparation with the dependants to it doth not cat up and devour the better half of a twonty-i five or thirty-pound wager, therefore, for any ordi- nary match or"bet I allow as I said but two months to prepare a horse for it, it being most certain that a horse which cannot make a good heat in that time will very rarely make an extraordinary one, though you should dyet him triple or quadruple that space." Sir William Hone separated his course of training into four periods of a fortnight each, prescribing different treatment and different feed for each. For the first fortnight, assuming the horse to be fat and soft, the trainer was directed to give him each day four quarts of oats together with three "small bundles" of hay, feeding him one quart of oats at a meal, or a little more if the horse was a hearty feeder. After having been groomed before daylight in the morning the racer was closely wrapped in a body cloth and exercised to give him a sweat. "Walk or rack him only a foot pace for you must neither amble nor trot, because they are both prejudicial to speed or swiftness, at least a mile or two, or more if you think fit, upon smooth and equal ground, and if it have a gentle rising so much the better; there gallop him gently, afterward walk him softly, so that lie may cool as much one way as he warmeth another, and when you have thus exercised him a pretty space and feeling the sun begin to rise, or else newly risen, ruck him down to some fresh river or clear pond and there let him drink at his pleasure. After lie hath drunk bring him gently out of the water and rack him away very easily. Wrhen you have thus walked him a little calmly, put him into a gallop gently, and exercise him moderately as you did before, then walk him a little space, after which offer him more water. It he drinks then gallop him again gently; if not, then gallop him a little more to occasion thirst, and in this manner give him always exercise before and after water, and when you judge he hath drunk sufficiently bring him home." Arrived at the stable the horse was rubbed down and after an hours rest he was fed. Again at eleven oclock, then at one oclock, and finally at nine oclock at night he got his quart of "sweet, dry. old and clean drest oats." At evening he was "aired" again by walking and galloping under blankets, and just before his evening meal his legs were to be well rubbed down with wisps of straw, In the second fortnight fast work was begun, and with it went some changes in feeding-. Hay was cut off, excepting a few haudfulls, and bread, com-i- bluing three parts of beans with one part of wheat, was .added to the bill of fare, except on the days proceeding work-out days, which came twice a week. w was ra tv ale. to for j. be , t, the tj the Cf to t0 to be be u jw be n jy j,, p, j,, pi , , to SI it C j be j, in. xv ti a n t ., t. jj it. , s, j, ft 0 j, in a t ., j, s j , j c s 0 t s j j j , , t c ; . , , 1 j , . j , j , j , ! , 1 , i l i . f ; ! r i , 1 i i ; 1 On the morning that the trainer, or keeper, as he then called, intended to give him a heat, the racers breakfast was a quart of oats rubbed between the hands with some beer or ale, then a new-laid egg or two, washed down witlt a little beer or "In giving of heats," says the author, "you are consider first, that two in the week are sufficient any horse of whatsoever condition or state of body. Secondly, that one of them should alwayes given upon that day of the week in which your horse is to run his match, and that also still to he sharpest for increasing of his heels or swiftness, other being only a slow galloping over the course, more to increase wind and cause sweat, than improve his speed, and therefore I would have you order them thus: Suppose your match day is to upon a Monday, then your heating dayes must Mondays and Fridays, and the sharper heat to upon the Monday, because it is the day of his match. Thirdly, you shall give no heat in rain or foul weather, and in case of sudden shours you shall have for your horse a hood to keep out the rain. For nothing is more dangerous than cold wet falling into the ears and upon the nap of the neck. Fourthly, observe to give your heats as early in the morning as you can; that is, by the spring of the day. Fifthly and lastly, rack your horse gently up the starting post if tiiere be any, making him smell at it, that so he may both be acquainted with and also know the beginning and ending of the course, at near a three-quarters soeed. and if it upon the day of the week his match is to fall then according to bis strength, goodness of wind and cheerfulness of spirit, run him the whole course thqrow, and by no means do anything in extremity, or above his wind, but when you find him little yeeld, then draw a little and give him cae, that he may do all with pleasure and not with anguish, for his manner of trailing will make him take delight in his labour and so the better endure "When you have finished your heat and gently gallop him up and down to rate his wind and clear his spirits you shall then the groom being ready ride into some warm place or corner, and with your glassiiig or scraping knife, made either of some broken sword blade or a thin piece of old hard oaken wood, scrape off the sweat from your horse every part buttocks excepted, until you can wake no more arise, still moving him now and then little to keep his limbs in motion, then with dry cloaths rub him all over, and last of all walk him about the fields to cool him, and when you find him begin to dry apace, then rack him homewards, sometimes stepping and sometimes galloping, but by no means bring him to the stable till you find bun thoroughly dry. Then set him up and ty him to the rack, and having prepared it against your coming, give, him this scouring: "Take an English pint or Scotch mutchkin of the syrup of roses, or, for want of it. the like quantity of strong Iionyed water, and dissolve into it of csassia, agarick and myrrhe. of each one ounce, shaking them well together in a glass, then being mulil and made warm upon a gentle fire, and the horse newly come from his heat, give it to him lukewarm." This dose was repeated after every "heating" during the second fortnight, in which "there is no doubt but his body will be drawn inwardly pretty clean." For the third fortnight the racers bread was made of equal proportions of beans and wheat, his heats were not quite so sharp as before and the scourings gave place to cordial balls made up after "the true receipt of Mr. Markhams, so much esteemed by the generally of our English farriers." The ingredients were "aniseeds, cuminseeds, feenegreek seeds, car-thamus seeds, elecampain roots and coltsfoot, of each two ounces, as also two ounces of the flour of brimstone, then an ounce of the juice of liquourish. dissolved on the fire in half an English pint of white wine, which done, take of the chymical oyl of aniseeds one ounce, or sallet oyl. honey and molasses, of eacli half an English pint, then mix all these witli the former powders, and with as much fine wheat flower as will knit them together into a stiff past, which make into balls as big as a liens egg, to give your horse as you shall find occasion lor them." These balls were given almost daily during the third fortnight, sometimes annointed with fresh butter to prevent sickness, and again dissolved in sack for the cure of colds. Three parts of wheat to one part of beans, kneaded with strong new ale and the white of twenty-five or thirty eggs were the ingredients of the racers bread for the fourth, and final, fortnight of his truly grand preparation. "You shall make your bread much finer than before," says the author, "and witli the crust cut first away, and clean oats well drved and dressed, as also some pure split beans, all mixed together, or severally as you shall think fit. Feed your horse at his ordinary meals, as you did in the second and third fortnights, only in this last fortnight you shall observe these few directions following: "First, you shall keep your heating days the first week of this fortnight, but the second or last week you shall forbear one heat and not give vour horse any, five days before his match, but for it give him only strong and long airings and watering courses, and if morning and evening during the fortnight you burn frankineenee in the stable you will find it very wholesome for your horse, and he will also mightily delight in it. "This fortnight give him no hay but what he taketh out of your hand after his heats, and also let that be in little quantity and clean dusted. "The last week of this fortnight, if the horse be a foul feeder, you must use the muzzle continually, but if a clean feeder then three days before the match is sufficient. "The morning of the day for the match come to him very early, and taking off his muzzle give him a pretty quantity of oats, washed in the whites of eggs, muskadine or clierrie, walk him abroad, bring him home and putting on his muzzle let him rest until you have warning to make ready. "When you have warning to make ready, take off his muzzle and put on his snaffle, being washed in a little muskadine or clierrie, then bridle him up and after pitching the running saddle and girths with shoemakers wax. set it on and girt it. Reing ready to draw out, give him half an English pint of muskadine or clierrie, and so lead him away. Walk him softly to the starting post and there, starting fair, perform you your part by running him to the greatest advantage he is capable of, and leave the rest to providence, for although we are obliged to use the means and helps of second ci uses, yet it is that which determineth all, even the most trivial actions any of us poor mortals are concerned in."
