MR. SANDEVIR OF NEWMARKET.
How long does the training of jockeys continue?
With those in high repute as riders, in a greater or lesser degree, from about three weeks before Easter to the end of October, but a week or ten days are quite sufficient for a rider to reduce himself from the weight he is naturally of, to sometimes a stone and a half below it.
What food do they live on, both solid and liquid, and what quantities are allowed them of each?
For breakfast, a small piece of bread and butter, with tea, in moderation. Dinner is taken in a very sparing way, a very small piece of pudding, and less meat, and when fish is to be obtained, neither one nor the other are to be allowed; wine and water is their usual beverage, in the proportion of one part wine to two of water. Tea in the afternoon, with little or no bread and butter, and no supper.
What exercise do they get, and what hours of rest?
After breakfast, having sufficiently loaded themselves with clothes, that is, five or six waistcoats, two coats, and as many pair of breeches, a severe walk is taken, from ten to fifteen or sixteen miles; after their return home, dry clothes are substituted for those that are made very wet and uncomfortable by sweat, and, if much fatigued, some of them will lie down for an hour before dinner; after which, no severe exercise is taken, but the remaining part of the day is spent in that way that may be most agreeable to themselves; they generally go to bed by nine o’clock, and continue there till six or seven the next morning.
Are they purged, and what purges and other medicines are given them?
Some of them that do not like excessive walking, have recourse to purgative medicines, two ounces of Glauber’s salts is the usual dose, and it is very seldom that any other medicine is had recourse to.
Mr. Sandevir would recommend a similar process to reduce corpulency in either sex, as, from experience, he perceives, that the constitution does not appear to be injured by it, but he is apprehensive that hardly any person could be prevailed upon to submit to such severe discipline, that had not been inured to it from his infancy.