322 



STEEPLE-CHASING, 



only two separate impressions ; in some cases the shoes on the 

 hind feet have actually been found in advance of the shoes on 

 the fore feet. 



Such marks on the turf are something more than arguments, 

 and are not to be controverted. Their meaning is plain. If 

 the prints of hind feet are distinctly traced in front of the 

 prints of fore, it proves that the horse has landed (as the rider 

 feels and the keen observer believes he sees) on his fore legs, 

 but his stride has been so little deranged by the jump that his 

 hind quarters come well under him, so that his hind legi 

 actually pass the spot where his fore legs alighted.* It cannot 

 be else ; for if this horse had landed on his hind legs, how 

 could he possibly have dented the turf with his fore feet i7t rear 

 of his hind ? How, indeed, could it be that his fore legs lighted 

 on the same spot as, or even a few inches before, his hind — for 

 if he did land on his hind legs in his stride, his fore legs should 

 be not in rear of, but some way in front of, the hind ? A horse's 

 quarters come over a fence and forward with such rapidity 

 that the onlooker may very readily make a mistake, for the 

 eye cannot follow the precise movement of a horse's legs. It 

 is strange that so keen an expert as Christian should have been 

 mistaken. That a horse jumps on to his hind legs, however, 

 is a theory which will not be supported by the most observant 

 of steeple-chase trainers and riders. 



With regard to riding over a country, an excellent rule to 

 be steadfastly observed, is, 'Chance nothing.' It is a rule by 

 no means followed by steeple-chase riders, and it cannot be 

 denied that by ignoring it races have been won. It is at least 

 equally certain that more races have been lost. To jump a 

 fence is a very slight matter for a practised man on a fresh, 

 well-schooled horse. Things are different when the horse has 

 galloped three miles or more over those fences which take so 

 much out of him. Driven recklessly at his jump, he may have 

 the good fortune to clear it before the more careful rider who 

 is coming alength or so behind, and so to scramble home before 



1 For demonstration of this the authors have to thank Tom Cannon. 



