THE DAWN OF STEEPLECHASING 7 



conditions of the run was there should be a six-foot 

 wall in the course, and when the boy came to that 

 obstacle he jumped off, turned his horse over, scrambled 

 over the wall, remounted, went on and eventually won 

 the race. One rider and his horse cleared the formid- 

 able wall, while the two others refused. The question 

 the Turf Club was asked to settle was whether the 

 horse carrying the boy could be said to have won ? 

 The conditions of the race, by the way, provided that 

 the horse ridden by the boy should carry a " feather- 

 weight," no definition being given of the term, con- 

 sequently, when the case came on for argument, it 

 was contended that the boy had lost because he 

 dismounted at the wall. On the other side it was 

 contended that the conditions were satisfied by the 

 horse having the saddle on his back when he leaped 

 the wall, and by carrying the saddle he carried a 

 featherweight. How the Turf Club settled the knotty 

 point is not known, but, in all likelihood, against the 

 featherweight. 



Just about this time it appeared to be the custom 

 in Ireland to stipulate for fences of a certain kind, 

 a four-foot obstacle and a four-foot drain to be 

 jumped twice in each heat being specified in one 

 race, a regulation which shows that even in the last 

 century courses were not invariably straight on end ; 

 and that legislation in the matter of fences was not 

 unknown. 



The writer who tells us about the above steeple- 

 chase further states that he had seen two Irish horses, 

 the property of a gentleman at Frimley, in Surrey, jump 

 a brook while hunting ; the leap, on being measured, 

 was found to be a clear twenty-two feet. Good jumpers 

 in Ireland were often matched against each other, but 

 though it is easy to find bare mention of several of 

 these contests no details are given, neither date nor 



