THE FIEST FENCE. 



IX our last wc dispatched the competitors on theii- adventurous journey across 

 country; in the present avo find tlieni at the fii-st obstacle to be encountered, and in 

 contradiction to many coiu'ses in the present day,where an casj' hurdle forms the prelude 

 to fences all but as easy, unless appearances go for nought, there is really something to 

 be got over. With hounds even the first fence tells, and whether it is bungled or 

 negotiated in workmanlike manner makes all the difference to the position that is to be 

 afterwards maintained. If this is the case when the line pursued is uncertain, and a 

 lucky nick or check may again place the unfortunate one in the front, how disastrous 

 must be the effect of a baulk or fall in a steeplechase when the competitors have a cer- 

 tain line to traverse, and go at a pace that would have astonished many a Queen's Plater 

 oi a century ago. Even in the early days of steeplechasing a man had a better chance 

 to recover lost ground, and when they ran from point to point, a Icnowledge of country 

 and the nature of fences would come to his aid, so by taking a better line, avoiding 

 ploughs and so forth, an early mistake might perchance be rectified. But now with 

 courses that a horse can gallop over, and flags which all must pass between, a hundred 

 yards lost, unless all the leaders come to grief, takes a deal of recovering, and the first 

 fence, even though the obstacle be slight in itself, may be of great importance, as the 

 means of establisliing confidence between man and horse. "Wlien steeplechasing first 

 became fashionable, none thought of entering anything but made hunters, and the 

 Elmores, who were perhaps more successful than any others, after the sport had developed 

 itself beyond private matches and sweepstakes between gentlemen, had, unless I have 

 been misinformed, theii- horses regularly trained in a ring with good stiff fences, where 

 a man could stand in the centre, and lounge them round, without incurring the risk of 

 hurting theii' legs by weight on the back, or endangering the neck of a rider. Of course 

 all horsemen will understand that only the preliminaries could be acquired in this way ; 

 for nothing but fine handling and determined riding can render a horse fit to take his 

 place amongst good company over a real steeplechase coiu-se. Xevertheless the plan is 

 by no means to be despised, and within the last year or two I have seen a place fitted up 

 at Oxford — by a gentleman to whom Alma Mater had imparted something more than a 

 taste for the classics — on exactly the same principle, and which he had found 

 did yeoman's ser-\-ice with various young thoroughbreds that came into his hands. 

 He, at any rate, has had a fair share of success, and the system, so far as the 

 A B CI of fencing is concerned, cannot be bad. With hunters we know from 

 experience that it works well, and, after all, the difference is only in the pace 

 at which you ride at the fence ; once let the horse know that it must be 

 cleared, or a fall is the certain result, and you may then teach him to take it at 

 whatever pace you like. Except in a few hands, we fancy in the present day all know- 

 ledge of fencing is considered quite superfluous in steeplechase hoi'scs. Thus we see animals 

 that have been figiu'ing in flat races all the summer brought to the post in the autumn, 

 and set going across country, with but little regard to their own limbs or riders' necks. 

 Moreover, to favour this style of doing things fences arc generallj- cut down, so that they 

 can literally be galloped over, and if a man will only follow the example of Captain 

 Beecher in the first hurdle-race ever run (wliich came off under Tommy Coleman's 

 auspices at Xo Man's Land), and get his nag between two others so that he finds the 

 fence the easiest way out, and put on steam enough, he is pretty well sure to get over. 



