Show 1 I like said the duffer serenely to read of the faults in this 9 game ame of faul faults to that are almost 01 obscenely asce nely bloc blockading kading the highway of tame fame of those who are stymied or bun bunk ered wh who 0 dont pivot right highl t on the tee so PI please ease print a lot of the incorrect clutch of those who are swaying or ducking too much just any old fault is it a personal touch for the matter with me S SARATOGA N Y the top horse m man a n of the world today Is in the gen general eral direction of his eightieth year high up in the seventies he schooled his first steeplechaser 61 years ago and after it 61 years he is still many lengths in front under wraps he is also one of the top sportsmen of all time one of the most remarkable in men en ive ever known in sport his name is grantland thomas hitchcock agg rice father of tommy hitchcock jr who will stand as the all time polo player un until til some superman per m an comes along and there we are no su everyone has a admired the efficiency fici ency of connie mack 77 and lonnie stagg 77 at baseball and football loot ball but the name of thomas hitchcock belongs in this slender group of amazing veterans vet erana who have thrown clocks and calendars away and ignored time they have made the tha years their vassals ignoring such puny details as hau half centuries ent urles training winners dinners I 1 met mr hitchcock just after one of his horses had bad won another steeplechase I 1 wanted to know how he did it I 1 asked him first why it was that he never ever n had the front feet of his jumpers shod this he said Is quite a simple simpie matter A horse gets his drive and balance from his hind f feet his ells lore forefeet feet ba have ve a tendency to expand his is hoofs will nearly always spread now if you yon encase these hoofs in an iron band there can be no expansion pan ancion sion there can be no DO give give I 1 have known own this after some 60 years of f study and observation that Is the reason my jumpers juni pers are sever never shod to the front the trouble most horses have is with their hoots hoofs or legs I 1 have never had any such trouble other angles to consider I 1 asked mr hitchcock J just us t what system he followed to bring about such such an amazing success first of all he answered 1 I would say the word is patience you cant drive a horse at a barrier and force him over not consistently I 1 want natural JuIn jumpers pers not synthetic jumpers so I 1 start them in this direction when they are less than a year old I 1 give them minor jumps to make on their way to eat jumps of less than a foot I 1 gradually increase this height I 1 get them to feel that a jump is a part 0 of their lives something they have to make before they can eat these jumps are made higher and higher but there is no force about it there Is nothing ne new about ab 0 ut it it is something that belongs to their earlier memories something they handle instinctively I 1 asked mr hitchcock about other details for one thing he said YO you u M must know and love horses few are re alike they have their own whims and personalities but to get them accustomed to people I 1 have young riders 10 or 12 years old who tide ride or play with them as yearlings yearnings year lings I 1 get them accustomed to the problems they must face later on I 1 get them used to older horses which may be crowding in all this he said takes a world of pd patience tience the horse must be schooled over and over and over what you want him to do must be made it a habit that he understands the same thing thine goes tor for polo ponies I 1 have known experts who w went ent out or speed but a polo p pony ony must be trained rained and taught aught to turn in a split second speed of course is a factor but so Is turning agility these are things that take time lime to my mind a horse reach leach or approach his bis prime until he is six years old th this is applies especially to jumping anito and to polo you time to teach young horses what they need to know at these two sports back over the years just when old did you begin this icho schooling oling work I 1 asked when I 1 was at oxford in 1881 he said no it was before adora that probably around 1879 1 I wits was a little younger then be added than I 1 in now that was 61 years ago but I 1 doubt hi be was younger then there Is so much to do he be rather plaintively and so little time in which to do it when you must be p patient tient you must have time to in which to work |