STEEPLECHASE COUESES. 219 



1. Hurdles, 3 ft. 6 in. high, and bushed with brush- 

 wood. 



2. Bush fences, 3 ft. to 4 ft., and 8 ft. or 10 ft. broad 

 at the base. Care should be taken that the material 

 used does not contain long, sharp-pointed thorns, 

 which often inflict severe injuries on the legs of horses 

 that may happen to chance such obstacles. 



3. Hedges, from 3 ft. to 4ft. high. Quick-set hedges, 

 which form the majority of the jumps on the Aintree 

 course, over which the race for the Grand National is 

 run, are seldom met with in India except at DehraDoon, 

 where they consist of rose bushes. I may remark that 

 a weak hedge should never be stiffened by a rail, unless 

 the wooden bar is placed in such a manner that the 

 horse cannot help seeing it. Neglect of this precau- 

 tion was the cause of the death at Liverpool of the 

 famous gentleman rider " Mr. Edwards " (poor George 

 Ede). 



4. "Walls. They are usually made of mud ; and, if 

 I may form an opinion, should not exceed 3 ft. 9 in. in 

 height, if upright. The great fault made about mud 

 walls in India is that they are often left in their 

 ordinary brown condition, in which case they do not 

 always stand out sufficiently sharply from their dingy 

 surroundings to enable a horse coming at them to 

 accurately measure his distance. At least, on the 

 taking-off side, they should, if possible, be turfed over 

 (with roots of doob or hurry alee), and kept watered for 

 several days previously. We must remember that the 

 afternoon glare on an Indian race-course ; is often very 

 deceiving to a horse's eyes. The wall, on the taking- 

 off side, should have a slight slope, say i ; in which 



