have been mentioned, there are many trotters which compete in local events, and after leaving the racecourse do excellent work. Often they have nothing remarkable about them, except their pace. They are not naturally precocious. and have advanced by care, good feeding, and education, while others have remained behind.

At five years old the French horse could have nearly all his height and strength and be ready for breaking. If he is otherwise, the state of his development will be proportionate to the amount and nature of the food and exercise he has received.

Formerly it was the rule among riding masters not to break-in a horse for high-school work until he was at least seven years old. For many years I thought and acted like the others, and to make my school horses. I took animals of from seven to eight years old ; but little by little, I became impressed by what I saw on racecourses. At Epsom, Chantilly, Auteuil, and Longchamp, the longest and severest races were reserved for three-year olds.^[1] I observed that when breaking-in a school horse I did not require from him a tenth of the exertion which he would have to do, if he was trained or raced. Starting on the principle that if a horse can do much, he can do little, I came to the conclusion that a three-year-old which could stand training and racing, would much more easily stand school breaking. Although this reasoning appears to me to-day to be very simple, I was not able to act on it without extreme timidity, so great is the influence of preconceived ideas. Whenever I spoke about it to horsemen and authorities of that time, they shrugged their shoulders, and regarded it as nonsensical. Since then I have learned