in its assimilation, for a considerable time, as corn would do for these reasons cne need not stint a horse so sharply in the matter of water, as in that of food.

If the races be held in the evening-as they almost always are up-country-the setting need not be so strict, and an allowance of, say, 6lbs of dried grass may be given the day before. The trainer will now be guided by the style of horse, whether to put on the muzzle the night before the race, or to wait till the next morning; in most cases I think it better to adopt the latter method, for if the muzzle be applied over-night, there is a great probability of the horse getting fidgetted by it, and thereby being prevented from having a good night's rest. Anyhow, on the morning of the race, he is given his usual onepound feed and is taken out for an hour and a half's walk, or he may get a very slow canter for three-quarters of a mile, and be sent the next quarter at nearly full speed just to open his pipes and to give him the idea that his day's work is finished. After that he may get about half his allowance of water, and nearly his full feed of corn with a small handful of dried grass. The muzzle is now put on, and at noon he may get a couple of pounds of corn. If the race comes off about 4 o'clock, he should get nothing more; but if at a later hour, a double handful of corn may be given three hours, or three hours and a half, before the saddling bell rings.

If a muzzle does not irritate a horse, it is better to use one than to take up the bedding, without which horses will not lie down during the day, while many will abstain from staling much longer than they ought to do. On the day of the race, the grooming should be got over quickly,

for the horse should be disturbed and excited as little as possible: for this reason I would never plait the mane of an excitable horse.

The use of plaiting the mane is to prevent the hair flying about and getting entangled with the fingers of the rider, while he is holding the reins, especially when he wants to shorten his grip on them.

Having arrived at the race-course, the horse should be kept walking in the shade, if possible, while the saddling should be done quietly, and without any fuss; I think it is advisable for the owner to look after this operation himself, and to see that the weights, girths, stirrup leathers, etc., are all right. The horse gets now, from a leather-covered soda water bottle, just enough water to rinse his mouth out, the jockey is given a leg up, the syce dusts his boots down, and off they start for the post, where a syce should always go in case of accidents, and if he takes a spare stirrup leather and girth, they are not much weight and may come in useful, for such things often break at false starts. Besides this, the jockey may have to dismount in order to arrange some part of the gear, and will require the syce to hold his horse, or to lead him up to the starting post in case he be fractious.

Treatment after running.-A horse should be watered immediately after a race, while, if he be much distressed, he may get 1 oz. sweet spirits of nitre in a drench, or 2 drs. carbonate of ammonia in a ball. If he has not to run for five or six days, he may get a bran mash or two. But if a fortnight or more is to elapse before his next race, he may have an alterative ball, and be kept

on green food for a couple of days or more. His legs and feet may, with advantage, be fomented after running.

Race-horses travelling by rail.-It may not be out of place for me here to remark that when race-horses are taken by rail, during the cold weather, their tails (when they are in the horse-boxes) should be pointed towards the engine, so as to obviate, as much as possible, the chance of their catching cold.

CHAPTER VII.

Race-Courses.

ON KEEPING A GALLOPING TRACK IN ORDER-EFFECT OF GROUND ON HORSES-MEASURING COURSES-LENGTHS OF DIFFERENT COURSES IN

INDIA.

THE climate and the hardness of the ground are the two great difficulties which a trainer has to contend against in India. When a race-course is on the ordinary soil we meet with in this Presidency, having generally a substratum of kunkur, nothing but constant manuring and picking up can keep it in order. This costs so much, that the Clerk of the Course (unless the Race Fund be particularly rich) may be well contented if he can keep a galloping track, even if only four yards broad, in good going order all the year round. Just before the close of the rains, he should take advantage of the softness of the ground to plough it up. It will cost about Rs. 30 a mile to plough and harrow a course 40 feet broad. If the ploughing be delayed, nothing but the pick-axe will touch hard soil. When arranging coolies for picking up ground, it is a good plan to have two men to each pick-axe, or hoe (phurwa), so that one may relieve the other, who will then pulverise the clods with a wooden batten (mungurree or tapee). The cost of labour may be calculated as follows:

On the hardest kunkur soil, a coolie, using a pick-axe (gyntee), can pick up and pulverise about 30 square yards, 4 to 6 inches deep, a day; or, with a hoe, he can

do about 40 square yards of ordinary hard, sun-baked soil; or 60 square yards of easy soil. The clods should be pulverised as the picking up proceeds, for if left for a few days exposed to the sun, they will become almost as hard as so many stones. The best pick-axes for this work are those supplied by Government to regiments among their entrenching tools. Litter or tan should now be put down without delay. It is no use applying them before the ground be thoroughly loosened, for, until it becomes so, manure would have as little chance of working into and amalgamating with it, as it would on a metalled road. On a track four yards broad, such as I have described, it would take 2,000 maunds of tan, or 1,500 maunds of litter, to lay down a mile properly. The cartage of this will come to about Rs. 3 a hundred from a distance of three miles. litter or tan will come to about maunds. Litter can sometimes be got, for the mere carting of it away, from artillery, cavalry, or elephant lines; but when it is sold, its price will not usually exceed eight annas a cart-load of about 20 maunds. Old and thoroughly decomposed litter is the best. New litter always contains a large quantity of particles of undigested grain that have passed through in the dung of the horses, while the presence of these particles will generally attract numerous field rats that burrow all over the course, and thus give a great deal of trouble before they can be exterminated, which is best done by filling the holes with water, and killing the rats as they come to the surface.

maunds, when brought The spreading of the eight annas a hundred