304 ON STEEPLE-CHASING. 



before them; but in order to secure large 

 fields and a paying attendance weights 

 were reduced, the handicap system borrowed 

 from the Turf, and fences cut down to 

 suit the mob of thoroughbred cast-ofPs, 

 which being useless on the flat were sent 

 to try their luck at the cross-country game. 

 Horses jump as well as gallop in all 

 shapes and sizes ; and though many of 

 our best performers have been fine animals 

 of great apparent scope and power, as were 

 those just mentioned, there have also been 

 many first-class steeple-chasers whose ap- 

 pearance would (except, perhaps, to a 

 particularly discerning judge) have belied 

 their performance. Thus Dragsman, a 

 noted chaser of his time, was said to have 

 been a coach-horse to look at ; but he cut 

 down a field of first-rate horses with great 

 ease, and ran four miles in the record time 

 of his day. The Lamb too, as every one 

 knows, was a mere pony, being bought on 



