FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



in this country, are ever met with in the hunting 

 field. As " hunters " are, by use of a pious 

 fiction, supposed to race over these courses, they 

 are described as " fair hunting country " — than 

 which nothing wider from the truth and the actual 

 facts can be imagined. Not only are our steeple- 

 chase fences unfair, in that they do not in the 

 very remotest degree resemble any American 

 fence, but they are practically rarely built in 

 accordance with the instructions issued by the 

 N. S. & H. A. They are principally banks, 

 brush jumps, and a so-called " Liverpool." This 

 latter is neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, and is, even 

 in the country of its origin (England), held up to 

 daily vituperation alike by public, press, owners, 

 and riders. Over it a shocking number of horses 

 have been fatally injured, although it must be 

 owned that such results have not so regularly ob- 

 tained here, wherefore this criticism is restricted to 

 condemnation of it as absurd and useless because 

 it is not of national character. Rails, walls, slat- 

 fences, brooks, board fences, etc., are legitimate 

 obstacles, and those to be met with in riding 

 across any American country. To these ab- 

 solutely should our jumps be restricted; nor is 

 there any reason for the adoption of other styles, 



i88 



