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DEVELOPING A JOCKEY • — Methods Employed in the Making of the Saddle Artist. i Apprentice Must Undergo Long and Hard Labor Before Being Permitted to Ride. — i The life histories of famous Jockeys are constantly being published, and interesting reading most of them afford, but they seldom give any details of how these "knights of the pigskin" fared in the earliest stages of apprenticeship. From time to time articles have appeared describing the life of an apprentice in a big racing establishment, and the writers have endeavored faithfully to limn them from their point of view, though the experiences narrated invariably differ widely from fact. Few people are aware of the hardships which are endured by a boy who is to make his mark as a jockey, and it is generally imagined that if a lad is of a sufficiently slender built he has merely to enter a racing stable to earn the income of a cabinet minister in a few years. This is a great mistake, as everyone concerned with stables knows well enough, and as every embryo jockey finds out to his cost. The training of a jockey entails many years of hard work if success is .to be achieved, and possessing a strong constitution alone will enable an apprentice to rise to the position of a first-rate jockey. The famous actor usually gains fame by beginning on the lowest rung of the ladder, and so it is with the jockey, and few cases can be recalled of any rider of note who has not commenced his career by doing his "bit" in the stables. That those who rise to the top of the tree are few and far between is apparent from the long list of apprentices which appears year by year in the "Racing Calendar," the majority of whom pass into obscurity. The life of an apprentice in a racing stable, although healthy enough, is by no means a bed of roses, and woe betide the gently nurtured lad who thinks he is going to have a good time. Years ago an apprentice was thought little of and his housing and feeding •were of the most primitive kind ; but things have changed greatly and in most establishments the lads are looked after with greatest care and their interests studied in every possible way. The term of apprenticeship varies considerably, and it usually rests with his parents whether a boy is bound to a trainer for three, five or more years. In most instances five years is the stipulated time, as the rudiments of the profession can scarcely be taught in less, though in some cases the apprenticeship lasts until the majority is attained. It is an old saying — and a good one. too — however much to be said for the other side of the question, that nearly all the crack jo -k -ys of the present day owe their positions to the careful tuition bestowed won them by their early employers. MIST HAVE XATIBAI ABILITY. A boy must have bred in him the ability to control horses and the nerve to do so, for no teacher can instill these necessary attributes. The instinct to judge pace is indispensable, as without it no boy can hope to succeed, and it was probably owing to this faculty that Sloan exercised such influence on race riding in England. The inability to estimate correctly the speed at which a horse is traveling has Bpoiled the career of many prominent lads, and this will be borne out by every trainer, who will tell you that men whom he has had in his employ for perhaps a score of years even then cannot tell the difference between a half-pseed. three-quarters speed or racing-pace gallop. And now, to describe some of the details of an apprentices life. It must not be supposed that when he enters the employment of a trainer he is at once placed on a race horse. No; a great many things have to be learned before he achieves that distinction. The routine of a stable has first to be taught and there is a great deal more in this than most pnople imagine. At the outset his attentions are mainly confined to sweeping the yards, polishing brasswork, washing out the stables, cleaning saddles, bridles and harnesses, and a hundred and one other details too numerous to mt ntion. Going the rounds with the "stopping pot" is one of these first duties, and as this implement will no doubt be unknown to many readers it may be well to explain its uses. A "stopping pot" is a box or other receptacle containing moist cowdung. which is used to stop up horses feet the night before they have to be rcshod, the object of the dung being to soften the hoofs and thus render them less resisting to the blacksmiths knife. The novice is then gradually educaed in the proper way of cleaning out a stable and bedding it down, while he also has to notice how to "dress" a horse down properly. It is frequently a source of wonderment to the visitor who makes his first inspection of a racing stable to see a small lad of some fourteen summers and sometimes less than four feet high completing the toilet of a Mg animal of sixteen hands, in order to do which he has perched himself on the top of an upturned stable bucket. EARLY RISING IS MO RULE. Karly rising is the rule in all stables, and the lads are invariably aroused at hours ranging from 6 a. m. in the winter to 4 a. m. in the summer, for in the latter season most trainers have -their strings on the exercise ground before i oclock. When the boy has thoroughly learned his stable duties he is then taught to ride, his first mount usually being some quiet old cob or pony. an he is, after having practiced a few times in the horn.- paddock, allowed to go out with the string to pick up and bring hack the rugs, hoods, knee-boots, etc., which are- taken off horses when they aro about to undergo fast gallops. This gives them plenty of mounting and dismounting practice— an invaluable experience —as race horses cannot be mounted by the usual procedure of placing the foot into the stirrup, for they will not stand, and tiny have to be mounted by a series of springs. When »uflicieiitly advanced the lad is given charge of a race horse, usually one chosen for its quietness and good manners, and he is then taught how to ride canters, the task of steering the horse In the faster work being left to more experienced hands. After some months of this the lad of promise is given a chance of taking part in the gallops, and it is the way in which he then shapes that decides whether the trainer thinks he is capable of riding in a trial gallop. These trial spins are the crucial test, and if a boy does well in them he is certain to be put up in public. To win at the first time of asking is naturally a fine beginning, but it falls to few. and more often many races have to be ridden before a lad has to direct his mount to the winners in-closure. Even then a long period may elapse before his services are in much request, but if he is a promising lightweight he is fairly certain of securing some patronage. The apprentices career is not assured even at this point, for though he may be capable enough and his skill in much demand, the loss of the five pounds apprentice allowance may cause him to be relegated to the luukgmuud. This five pounds allowance rule was made in order to give an apprentice a chance with his more experienced opponents, and so it does, but as soon as a boy loses bis right to it it will be found more often than not that he is no longer wanted, and unless he shows special ability he is seldom heard of attain. The life of a stable apprentice consists of a great amount of hard work, with little prosiw et of earning the great prizes of the profession, just as in every other walk of life, the "stars" are few and far between. — Loudon Sportsman.
