The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-10
MAKING A HORSE JOCKEY.
Much Painful Training to Undergo
Before N Boy Ii Fitted 10 Ride.
rr.... A. Aikan,v

From the Albany Journal
Among the many who are interested in
racing, probably but few pay any thought
to the pains and miseries undergone by
that unfortunate although much envied
class of men, the jockeys. Some men-very
few-are really born Jockeys. They are of
hat small build which is essential for
their work, they are blessed with a con-
stltution that does not run to fat" and
at the same time they are endowed with
the nerve and resolution necessary to their
calling. Many lads, however. who by their
build" give promise of making good jock
sys are, they turn to manhood, cursed
with the tendency to lay on flesh, but hav-
ing once tasted the excitement, and also,
it may be, shifted at the profits of jock
eys lie, will not give II up without a
struggle Notwithstanding the warning of
the scales. To these the life is one of great
misery, almost torture, from training
down. interspersed, no doubt, with pc
RODS of gayety which are almost If not
quite as dangerous to health as those dur
ing which the poor fellow has to do PEN
ance in sweating off the effects of his In
discretions. Probably no criminal to
whom hard labor is melted out as a pun
ishment undergces such labor on such low
diet as the jockey, who is wasting him
self so as to scale with another lucky fell
low whose nature runs less to fat. In the
hottest weather he piles on clothes and
takes sharp walks. He labors hard, and
the more he sweats the more he feels he
has done his duty. Then comes the puzzle.
After the labor there is appetite; after the
sweating there is thirst-but the food
must be strictly limited and the drink
must be for naught The privatlon is hor-
rth Traf inf fnF fa hnH oh
and has made many good fellow throw
athleticism to the dogs, but training for
weight is a far greater infiiction. There
are so many pounds to be got off and so
many days or weeks in which to do II. By
physic, by sweating, by hard labor, and by
starvation 1t has got to be done, and that
in certain time.
As an instance OF continuous self-denial
there are few positions which will COM
pare with that of a jockey when he Is
working himself down to a scale. A man
in ordinary condition hardly varies in
weight from day to day. whatever he
may eat or drink. and many men leading
fairly irregular lives keep their weight
almost without change for months and
even years. It is not So however, when
training has brought down the weight far
below its natural level. Under such cir
cumstances every cell in the body seems
hungry and athirst, and moisture is suck
ed up as by blotting paper. Jockeys and
trainers are wont to tell strange tales Of
the weight laid on as the result Of small
indiscretions in diet, and 1t is gravely stat
ed that a pint of stout imbibed by
thirsty "waster'' Is computed to put on
three or four poundsl OF course, such
things cannot be, and the laws of nature
are not altered even for Jockeys; never
theless, 1t is certain that, when trained
down to a certain pitch, any excess OF
fluid over a minimum which has been at
tanned is not excreted, but goes entirely to
the tissues, and thus to the increase OF
weight. 1t Is unnecessary to point out
how injurious to health it must be to
play such pranks with the constitution
over and over again. Health depends
largely upon the maintenance Of due
and orderly re- ton between the asslmi-
latve and the excretory functions, rela-
lions which are entirely perverted in the
life of the jockey. At one period he de-
rivcs his nutriment from food like the
rest of mankind; at other times, and for
long spells, he subsists largely upon his
own tissues. Many break down under the
strain, either in consequence Of the fluids
drunk being insufficient to perform their
functions properly or from the starva-
ton telling on the nervous system before
1t affects their flesh, while others throw
up the effort rather than continue the
miserable system of starvation which is
involved in keeping the scales on the right
side