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TOM CANNONS ADVICE TO RIDERS Every jockey and stable lad desirous of taking up the profession of race-riding should read the following comments on horsemanship by the celebrated English rider Tom Cannon, and having read them commit them to memory, as they arc truths that were uttered by a master of his craft. "That unfortunate whip," said the famous jockey-trainer, "loses so many races for the boys, and more especially on young horses. No one .knows what a number of two-year-olds are ruined by the whips and spurs the boys are so fond of using. Besides the fact that it is cruel, it does no good at all. See a two-year-old come out on to the course and go down to the post, listening and looking about him. He ran last week, and he was hided, and he was out the day .before yesterday. Here he is once more, and he knows hes got to run, and to be hided again. Whats the consequence? Hes too nervous to put -out his full powers, and then when he goes back to the stable, timorous and trembling, he wont eat, and whats worse he wont drink, and so he goes off when hes neyer liad a chance of coming on. As I sit on my light saddle, I can feel their hearts against my legs, beat, beat, boat! bump, bump, bump! Then if a careless or a clumsy 1h.v Is on them they get a bad start, after all; out. : comes that blessed whip, and so they go whipping and bumping all over the place. Spurs, too, hard at if, though they dont often touch the horse where they want to. They never give the poor .things fair play. I make bold to say that if you examined n hundred horses that I have ridden in races you wont find a mark of the spur on three of them." Referring to race riding generally, Tom Cannon said: "The whole sccre.t of the matter is this: rages are not won entirely at the post. Youve got to think of winning all the way from the start. You must nurse a horse to get him home, dont use your whip. He must jump into his bridle, of course, and keep there, but you dont want your hands up with a short rein, punishing his mouth all the way. You must nurse a horse to get him home; dont use carry you the whole course on his jaws. If you cant hold him with a gentle pull, try a gentler still; its just like trout fishing you have to be as delicate as yon can." "Then comes the finish," he says, "where so many races are thrown away. If you hit a horse too much and too soon he will simply come back. He shrinks at the whip of course he does; hes, a great deal too sensible not to do so! A flash young rider flourishes it about in the air and frightens his horse out of his stride befora they have reached the distance. If you want to hit your horse, the whip should be drawn quietly, and never more than seven, or , eight strides from home. Then the sudden, nppli-, cation causes him to make a sudden effort, and. the great thing is to see if one or two strokes will not do it in the last three strides. A horse can tell, too, when you want him to make his final effort, and if hes game and fit, and you are doing your best with him, he will go with you." Durban Latest..
