Not long ago I was talking to a man that has fought cocks for over forty years. He told me, with a straight face, that he considered condition to be sixty-five per cent (65%) of the ability to win. I looked closely at this man, as I figured he was trying to kid me, but I finally found out that he was serious. In reviewing what I knew of this man's record with cocks, I remembered that he had never been a very successful winner. He did pretty good at the brush hacks, but rarely broke even against good competition. He had just explained to me the reason for this, but I am sure he doesn't realize it, nor, at this stage in his life, can he be told. He is lost in the conditioning myth.
You boys and girls that have not been in the game too long take good heed of this. Condition alone is NOT, I repeat, NOT, the biggest thing in winning cock fights. It is important in that a mediocre cock in perfect condition, pretty often, but he will rarely, if ever, whip a good cock in the same perfect condition. Never forget that.
The magazines are full of advertisements these days, trying to, and selling us a tremendous variety of health foods, vitamins, oils, medicines, and other health aids. Sure, some of these do a little good, when you are run down, don't eat right or maybe take a few too many at a party; but, if you exercise properly, eat a good balanced diet and get proper sleep, these aids are wasted on you. Now, this can also apply to your fowl to a great extent. If you give him plenty of grit, oyster shell, green stuff, good grain, a little meat along, and good poultry, turkey, calf starter or similar pellets that contain vitamins, minerals and good high protein food, then he is as healthy as a proper diet will make him. Now, don't get me wrong and say the old Colonel said to feed the above and you have condition. I said if you had health and the strength that was bred in your fowl.
Now to put him in condition to fight, you only have to take out the inside fat, tone his muscles up, build up his wind and stamina a bit and finally dry out his tissues enough to make him a little harder to kill and be on his toes, alert to fight for his life.
Now, there are a few preparations on the market that stimulate his appetite, build up his vitality a little and help to put him in the pit in top shape to fight, but these are few and very costly.
Seems like I have strayed a bit away from the main subject of this article, which was merely, to point out that condition is not the most important thing in winning a cock fight. To get back to this, I would like to tell you of a close friend of mine that fought cocks steadily for more than 40 years. I will call this friend "Red". Red started out a bit before I did, and since he had a little money, he paid a great deal to several notable breeders for cocks to fight, and also for brood fowl. He also bought all the keeps on sale and all the aids to get them right. He even went so far as to pay a very prominent cocker a goodly sum to take him through his keep and teach him step by step, how to condition. Red did pretty good in the brush pits around our home, but every time he stepped out into first class company, they beat him unmercifully.
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