Trainers are Having Difficulty in Securing Suitable Apprentices

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27080, 14 May 1949, Page 5

Trainers are Having Difficulty in Securing Suitable Apprentices

SPORTING

The complaint is fairly general among trainers at the present time that the standard of riding shown by the younger section of horsemen is below what it should be, and the complaint is not without foundation. The number of races lost during the season through incompetence or lack of judgment on the part of riders would no doubt make a substantial tally. It may be that the difficulty of getting stable hands or apprentices has resulted in trainers having to take any boys who are offering regardless of whether they are suited for the calling or not. The position in some cases is acute. In addition, it would seem that some trainers, clever horsemen no doubt in their riding days, lack the ability to impart their knowledge to the budding horsemen, otherwise some of the recurring blemishes on riding would soon be removed. There are others, of course, who have the ability to mould apprentices into first-class horsemen, and they are well rewarded in'this connection, for, as has been said so often, “a good apprentice is sometimes worth more than a good horse.” It would be unfair to say that there are no promising lads about; indeed, some of them are showing great promise, but so, far as the general standard is concerned a capable “ schoolmaster ” could work a big improvement.