16 MODERN PIG-STICKING 



can be jumped, others cannot. They are generally 

 raised to distribute the water, and have therefore 

 to be negotiated from a stand. The smaller ones 

 are never more than three feet deep, and though 

 easy enough to hop into are harder to get out of, 

 with steep banks and water to take off from. 



The fences are generally round the fields, and 

 are made of tough plaited grass, often eight and ten 

 feet high. There are generally two binders across 

 them, making the bottom part solid for a height 

 averaging from three ,to five feet. These fences 

 give when pushed, but they are very strong and 

 elastic, and want as much jumping as any fence 

 I know. 



I have tried hard to get jumps of the country, 

 such as the two last named, introduced for horse 

 shows. But the vested Olympia interests have been 

 too strong for me. After all, perhaps they are 

 right ; for who knows when we may not meet a 

 five -bar gate or an in-and-out railway crossing 

 when pig-sticking ? 



The blind nullahs are nasty traps when met. 

 We flag them whenever we can in the really 

 dangerous places, where no horse could possibly 

 negotiate them. 



I have mentioned the bourrh lands on all the 

 left bank of the Ganges. Rolling, hard, sandy 

 downs some twenty feet high, with large stretches 

 of grass hunting mingled with fields and grassy 

 hedgerows. An easy country, but with some blind 

 wells. We have some of our best days here. 



Early this season in this country I was riding 

 Pioneer, my old grey, who is only 14.3, but has 

 the heart of a lion. I bought him fourteen years 

 ago from the Central India Horse. In fourteen 



