THE OLD BLACKS LEAP. II3 



years later; even then, however, the attenuated twisted 

 article had not made its appearance, and still later came 

 the worst of all — the barbed variety — so cruel in its punish- 

 ment of horse and hound. The first wire to line the fences 

 and ditches was of a stout heavy rusty make, about ^ or 

 f of an inch thick — never seen to-day — which, at any rate, 

 had the merit of being sufficiently visible for a horse to rise 

 at occasionally, if the posts were not too far apart. From 

 its weight, and being so unwieldy, it was not run through 

 holes, but was lodged on the top, or stapled to the sides of 

 the posts, and consequently did not offer so much resistance. 

 It was no uncommon thing then for men to practise their 

 horses to jump at a coat flung across a wire — and it was 

 surprising how soon they faced it — not infrequently it was 

 put into practice in the field, and may have obviated many 

 a bad fall. 



Although unwilling to bring my own adventures into 

 prominence, as the syllabus of the volume mentions the Old 

 Black's leap, and I happened to be on his back at the time, 

 I will give my first experience of wire — the old-fashioned 

 sort — when as a stripling of about lo stones, I one day 

 found myself astride this powerful old steeplechase horse. 

 He stood at least 16-3, and with my very light weight — as 

 the sequel will show — could jump anything. He possessed 

 wonderful quarters and shoulders, an ugly ewe-neck and a 

 big bony head, but withal was quite able to carry it. 



I was only riding with a double-rein snaffle, and the old 

 stager was really far too much for a juvenile to handle ; 

 try how I would, I simply could not pull him together ; so 

 before hounds broke covert I gave him a breather round a 

 big ploughed field, resorting to all the tactics I knew to 

 induce him to describe a circle. However, this only sufficed 

 to warm his blood, and I could foresee that I was in for 

 either riding over hounds, some unlucky Nimrod, or 

 chancing on some like disaster. Hounds found at Norton 



H 



