STEEPLECHASE COURSES 217 



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 4 ft. 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 Dehra Doon, 

 where they consist of rose bushes. 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 precaution 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 hurryalee), 

 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 f ; in 

 which case the wall may be made 4 ft. high as a maximum. 



