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— DUKE AND THE TIME CLOCK I , ♦ How American Trainer Fed Horses on a Regular Daily Schedule. ♦- Gilpin Recounts the Case of Liberator, Grand Niiliunal Winner, Which Was Fond of Wine-Soaked Bread. ■ * ■ 1 Continuing his discussion of horse-feed-Ing. I*. P. Gilpin 1ells of William Dukes methods in the following article from the London Weekly Dispatch : i When going around Dukes stables when i j he trained for Mr. now Sir George j Thursby at Cranbourne. he showed me j • everything and told me the different methods I he followed in unusual cases. Duke • was then and is today one of the best of I I the American school of trainers I have met , or heard of. He now trains in France and he presided over the magnificent establishment which belonged to W. K. Vanderbilt until the day of the latters death. During the time he trained for Mr. Vanderbilt. j Duke turned out winners of all the chief races in France. Duke did not feed his horses as we in Kngland do four times a day. He gave them but three meals and at much more regular j ! i intervals than I think we do. Frequently I think that our feed times come too close j [ together. If I remember rightly. Duke divided the twenty-four hours into three j equal sections, with the result that his first j 1 morning feed was somewhere between three and four oclock in the morning. j BlKKS AUTOMATIC DEVICE. ! People will at once ask, "ITow are you ! going to guarantee the horses will be fed ■ at that hour ; how can you be sure your man will be up to feed his horse regularly ! at the appointed time?" Rut Duke had an automatic clock device which told him without doubt the time the horses were fed and I have never seen one of these check clocks ; since. I believe such checks are now in | I use gen rally in big business houses in this I country, but I have never seen one in use In any other stable. I Dukes lu-rses were fed a second time about no.m and again about eight oclock j at night ; thus the three daily feeds at 1 regular intervals wilh ample time between ! meals to digest everything eaten. As Duke was a clever and successful trainer one cannot help thinking that his system was of necessity a pood one. i One of the most interesting cases I have known and which I saw with my own eyes was that of the celebrated steeplechase horse and C.rand National winner. Liberator. Which was a most delicate feeder. The irand National steeplechase has perhaps no equal in the world, run as it is over four and a half miles of the stiffest steeplechase country in Fngland or the continent, to negotiate which requires an animal ; of undoubted strength and stamina, which has undergone a most searching preparation. The horse must be able to feed and feed j well while being trained. Now Liberator was. a shy feeder and it was ditlicult to persuade . j him to take enough food to enable him to stand the work. FEEDING LIBERATOR. On the morning of the day on which he I ran one of his National races I was present when his trainer, the late John Hubert Moore. I ! came into the stable to see his charge and j to give li.m his early morning feed. To my j amazement Mr. Moore produced a loaf of bread from a paper parcel under his arm ; and broke it into large pieces. These Mr. Moore placed in the manger and immediately | Hoaked them with port from a bottle which he took from his pocket. He told me the ln-rse would not look at a | grain of corn at that hour of the day. and lie had to resort to all sorts of artifices to get him to eat anything at all. Tle horse • seemed to know what was being proparoi for him, and I can see him now as he • looked aroui.d at Mr. Moore, as much as to say, "Thank you. that suits me very well." And immediately he went over to the manger, first to nose about the bread and I : iinally to eat about three parts of it. One time a.t the Curragh I had a mare belonging ! to Sir William Joulding, a lightly made animal, whose appearance never did credit to those who had the care of her. Ore occasions sbe would not feed at all. She was to run in a race one afternoon, and ! going to see her before luncheon my he. id MM report. -d that she had been on her toes and roaming round her box all the morning, had not touched food that day and ] had eaten lit.le the day before. He was of: opinion that the mare knew she was going to race and w;is excited. It was summer time and there was lots of grass, and 1 told him to get a man at once to cut an armful and let her have that The race was not till four oclock and the — I 1 i i j j j • I • I I , j j ! i j [ j j 1 j ! ! ■ ! ; | I I I ■ | had to walk about four miles to the race course, whieh would help her to digest the ! grass if she would eat it. She ate every bit i of the grass, but knowing how badly she i had been doing I had no confidence what- ! ever in her winning the race. In fact. I told bar owner I could not really fancy her. but. I as so often happens, threatening fortune j again proved kind, and without a shilling on her she won easily. HID NOT FEED BEFORE A RACE. It was contrary to all ideas at that time that a horse should feed not long before he ran. and — in Ireland at least the muzzle was invariably put on a horse the previous night. after he had had his evening feed. Thus the trainer knew exactly what his horse had I eaten. Probably the treatment which proved j s-i efficacious in this case would not at all i have suited another horse which was used . to feeding in the ordinary way : in fact, would probably have proved his undoing. When a horse has a rash or some eruption of the skin it is not sufficient to treat him outwardly : the cure most often has to be effeeted from the inside. Some horses are valiant trenchermen, and wilh them it is particularly easy to deal, as they will eat anything. The only difficulty with them — and, after all, it is no difficulty — is to prevent them eating too much ; it is an easy matter to put a muzzle on. Often, however, it takes a long time to find out what the delicate feeder will eat in sufficient quantity. Hut horses are "queer critters," and race horses particularly so. as they are so highly strung. Many of them will not feed away from home. They get excited or nervous and are easily upset by the cheering of a crowd or by strange quarters, and then they are indeed "kittle cattle" to handle. This is not merely a matter of delicacy of appetite. It is a case of nerves, and with equines. as , with humans, nerves take a lot of putting right. There are different sorts of patent foods. and a little of them will often help for a time, but as a rule their attraction for the h.irs-* soon wears off. Wheat, I know, is occasionally given in the feed. It has a good j effect on the horse to all outward appear- ance. It helps his coat, makes him look sleek, and may help him to put on flesh. Hut it can only be given in small quantities at intervals. Tonics are used occasionally. as they are to human beings, but they can be used only for short periods and soon lose their value.
