The herald., 1894-12-10
WHEN TALKING WITH HORSEMEN
They Use a Language That Is
All Their Own.
The Grammar of Good English Is
Barred From 1t.
There Are Many Conflicting Things In
tho Terms of the Turf, But They
All "Go" Whom You Are
"West."

The citizen of Los Angeles who, dur'
ing the next few weeks, visits Agricul-
tural park or is idling around hotel cor'
ridors and finds his ears assailed by a
peculiar language. familiar enough In
the matter of words, but lacking in ex-
pressiveness, must not believe that the
city has been invaded by some foreign
element which has adapted English
words to new meanings. He must un-
derstand that he has run up against
a "fed" of sports who are talking
"horse."
A dictionary OF the Horseman Ian
Rusge lie yet to be written, but II the
average citizen could be supplied with
such thing, perhaps by dint of close
application to it, aided by a retentive
memory, he could in course OF time be
able to listen TO a conversation between
hnrseman and gain some faint glimmer-
ines of their meaning. Without dic-
tionarv of the horseman language or
long time spent among the habltues OF
the track he might as we'll listen to
conversation between a Fiji islander
and Bowery tough.
In the fret place, grammar doesn
figure iD the language OF horsemen at
all. In other words. as the horeeman
would say, grammar is barred" For
instance. he Gays: 81 lose 40 plunks on
Applejack yesterday" when he means
that he lost $40 by betting that horse
called Applejack would win. And again
he saye, II win out 80 cases on dead
sure shot, yesterday" when the average
linQuist would have said, II won SOU
yeste rday on horse that was verv sure
TO VIM And the horseman might
follow up this remark with, III he
hadn't sized real lamner' would
MT have bet him, but | see chance TO
go a raker' and win out without any
show for getting dumped and went
the pile'." The translation OF this re-
mark would be that if the horse had not
appeared to him to have been sure to
win he would not have bet on him at
all. but that he saw Q chance to bet
good amount on the horse and get even
on some previous losses, with no chance
of losing, and consequently he bet all he
could.
Now. for the benefit of people who
nav want to mingle with the noted
trsckmen now in the city, or possibly
NAV aspire to get dead next on the
coming races, few of the terms most
commonly in use by horsemen, with
their meaning, will follow.
When O horse goes ''all to pieces"
the track fficials do not go out with
wheelbarrow and gather up the parts.
The fact is that horse which has gone
all to pieces has simply acted badly In
race and lost ground, or, again, may 60
"all to pieces" before a race and not be
able to take training. A horse in this
condition would be "amiss" when the
trainer decided not to enter it for race.
A horse that has q good "appri'' is
not necessarily ready for the boneyard,
because nearly sll that ails it ia that lts
mouth is sensitive to the bit.
Running horses are "bangtails," but
becauee they sometimes make "gruele
ing finish" it does not follow that they
are fed on Cruel exclusively. When they
make "gruelng finish" they are sim
ply forced to their greatest speed Just
before coming under the wire.
Neither does horse have to bs ridden
bv Snapper Garrison" to make Gar
rson finish" but it has to be little
behind when turning into the stretch,
and when near the finish pass the 9TH
eTe.
w u6u Uuc uOIGO nhObhOA ~
doesn't need to use a gimlet; it simply
bs no against the other on turn.
The barrel OF a horse ia not used to
put beer or apple cider in, as some
might suppose. but is what common
people would call his body.
The bottom OF horse is not the un-
der side OF it, either. 1t is it's powers
of endurance when speed for a long dis
tance is required.
A. horse is "bishoped" when his teeth
have been tampered with, and "bowled
over" when beaten. You wouldn't give
a horse q "bresther" with a pair of bel
lows, bat simply let him 'jog" around
the circle once or twice.
When jockey "cslls upon" horse
the affair is verv informal and uncers-
monious. He simply uses every effort
in his power to put his ''mount" in the
leqd and keep him there. A horse is
"collared" when horse which has
been behind him moves up to and past
him, and when the other gets far enough
past SO that you can see daylight be-
tween the back OF the first Jockey and
the face of the rear horse. the first horse
has 'come away" If the first horse
falls back end then goes past second
time he has come again"
When an owner has two horses in the
same race, he Is coupled in the bets"
and all are made against the "stabe''
and not the individual horses of the
owner.
A "crack" is not necessarily a split in
the Jockeys skin-tight silk panties, but
may be a superior horse, while
"crackerjaok" ia 8 world beater or rec
ord d-breaker in his class.
The jockey gsts ''cropper" when he
falls from his mount, and cuts loose"
W hen he "sends" mis- horse for "all it ia
worth" after having held it back for
awhile. When he does that he may be
"jockeying" or he may not, but anyway
he thinks he is.
A dark horse" may or may not be
white, but at any rate the general pub.
lie doesn't know how good he is. Even
dead" horse may continue to stay in
race, but for some reason best known
to his owner, he 10 not permitted to win.
You can ''scratch" horse without
using a fine-tooth comb or sharp
stick, by simply Withdrawing him from
race after he has been entered.
Retters ere dumped" when they
back a horse which is generally ex-
pected to win and it doesn't, but if they
keep right on betting Notwithstanding
this, they are still "following."
A ''bookie" is he who keeps books"
j. g.. makes opportunity for people to
bet on the races and he may get full"
and not touch drop OF liquor, by sud-
denly deciding that he has made all the
bets he cares to on certain race.
horse, as everybody knows, seldom