Hurdle

“ The first stage in making a hurdle is the splitting of the rods; and this is an art calling for years of practice before such perfect efficiency is attained that the worker can divide each rod exactly down the centre with his eyes shut. ”

“ There is always a hurdle six feet long and four and a half in depth, swung by a chain at either end from an oak laid across the channel. And the use of this hurdle is to keep our kine at milking time from straying away there drinking (for in truth they are very dainty) and to fence strange cattle, or Farmer Snowe's horses, from coming along the bed of the brook unknown, to steal our substance. But now this hurdle, which hung in the summer a foot above the trickle, would have been dipped more than two feet deep but for the power against it. ”

“ The pupil should put her horse into a steady canter, going to the left round the school; and for this purpose the hurdle or bar should for the time be removed, so as to enable the lady to get her horse into a good free stride. When the instructor sees that she has her horse in proper form, the hurdle should be put up again and well sloped, because, even so, the horse will jump considerably higher in all probability than the rider expects. ”

“ In Great Britain the hurdles are fixed and the race is run on grass; in America the hurdles, although of the same height, are not fixed, and the races are run on the cinder track. The “low hurdle race” of 220 yds. is run over ten hurdles 2 ft. ”

“ When the pupils have gone through these motions intelligently, the teacher will take his place in front and to the right of the hurdle, facing the wall. The hurdle should always be placed in the middle of one of the long sides; and ladies prefer to jump on the left hand, in order to avoid touching the wall with their legs if the horse should go too near it. ”

“ The hurdles of the long course are 20 yards apart, but on the short course the first hurdle stands 15 yards from the start, the next eight are ten yards apart, but the tenth is 15 yards away. Hurdling demands judgment and skill as well as strength and speed. ”

“ But hurdle-racing is poor sport, neither jumping nor racing.
When the horse will leap the hurdle willingly and perfectly, it should be taken into the fields and put over fences, ditches, and streams. Most horses are at first timid in facing water, but with a little care a horse may be made to attempt any obstacle that is offered. In riding at broad water or at any wide jump, the rider should sit down in his saddle and send the horse forward in a good pace so that the momentum will carry the mass over. ”

“ The secret of the motion is to lunge slightly forward at the hurdle and to spread the legs to the widest angle as you clear it. The movement is somewhat similar to that which a man would make if he were suspended from the ceiling, his toes just touching the floor, and a series of hurdles on a treadmill were passing under him. ”

“ Tom told the Colonel it was a case of "horse and horse," which expression he was forced to explain, as it was a shade too doubtful.
A hurdle-race is a pretty sight over cinders, [Pg 25] but on turf as green and level as a billiard-table it was doubly beautiful.
We could see Fox and Hallowell crouch for the start, and Tomlinson and Parkes bend forward. I did not hear the pistol, so fascinated was I, as the men came away, skimming over the ground like four swallows, and rising over the first row of hurdles as if they had wings.
It is easy to judge a hurdle-race from any angle. ”

“ A squad of the boldest riders are jumping, six in line. One can see by the way they come that every man will go over: first the small ditch, hardly a check in the pace; then a rush at the hurdle embankment, the horses' heads very grand and Greek as they rear in a broken line to take it. Their faces are as strong and wild as the faces of the men. Their flanks are slippery with sweat. They clear the hurdles, and stretch out for the wide ditch. ”

“ Then, the horse being habituated to jump the narrow obstacle without reluctance, rugs, colored cloths, or anything of the kind that might ordinarily alarm a horse should be placed, first near the hurdle and then upon it, as the horse jumps it at the length of the longe-line. ”

“ The design in giving the early lessons in jumping over the narrow hurdle is to habituate the horse to take what is offered it without running out, for when it has been disciplined to leap an obstacle that could readily be avoided, it will not look for means of escape when brought to [146] face other objects. My horses will cross over doubles, in and out, the reins hanging upon their necks, and the obstacles no more than two feet in width. In fine, a well-trained horse will jump anything within its powers without urging and in the safest manner. ”

“ Sir Robert Brook, 1679. This sentence contains the first mention of the hurdle in this connection. In the Popish Plot sentences “sledge” and “hurdle” are used indifferently as names for the same thing.
[44] Chronicles: Waverley, ed. Luard, ii. 378; Flores Hist. ed. Luard, iii. 24-6; Osney (in Annales Monastici, ed. Luard, iv. 251) ; Cotton, ed. Luard, p. 148; an account unfavourable to the prior is found in Liber de Antiq. Leg., Riley’s translation, pp. 150-3.
[45] Matthew Paris, Chron. Majora, ed. Luard, iii. ”

“ Hurdle-racing teaches you to get across country fields and fences, and both the hammer and the shot events on the card give good training for emergencies that may arise.
But there is no emergency that I can think of where proficiency in the mile walk would be of the slightest service. ”

“ A hurdle should be well sloped, so as to render the leap a very moderate one. The rider should quit her hold of the reins, which should be knotted and fastened by a thong to the mane. A leading rein should then be attached to the ring of the snaffle, and the horse led quietly up to the fence, and halted. The pupil should then draw her hands back until they are in the same position as she would place them in putting her horse at his jump, with the hands closed firmly, which will give steadiness to the body. ”

“ In the first pen, or that which holds one hundred sheep, the hurdles must be so disposed, that there shall be only one at the top and bottom, and the rest in equal numbers on each side; then it is obvious, that if one hurdle more be placed at each end, the space enclosed must necessarily be double the former, and consequently will hold twice the number of sheep. ”

“ In my time, I’ve ridden steeple-chases, hurdle-races, and every species of race that the divil ever invented, but a faster thing than that morning’s ride I never saw nor heard of. The horses were well matched as to speed, mine was rather the freshest, but then the Carlist was the lighter weight ”

“ Hurdle, hur′dl, n. a frame of twigs or sticks interlaced: (agri.) a movable frame of timber or iron for gates, &c.: a rude sledge on which criminals were drawn to the gallows.—v.t. to enclose with hurdles.—n. Hur′dle-race, a race where the runners, whether men or horses, have to clear a succession of hurdles. [A.S. hyrdel; Ger. hürde.]
Hurds. Same as Hards.
Hurdy-gurdy, hur′di-gur′di, n. a musical stringed instrument, like a rude violin, whose strings are sounded by the turning of a wheel: a hand-organ: an impact-wheel. ”

“ A very useful apparatus for teaching the horse to jump cleanly and willingly is a little gate or hurdle, about three feet wide, made with three bars; the lower one fixed at eighteen inches from the ground to bind the uprights, which should be about three feet in height ”

“ But the athlete must restrain this inclination and force himself to take a short step, even if he has to work over it for months, or he will never be able to acquire skill or speed as a hurdler. That first short step after clearing the hurdle gives the runner his impetus, and the other two steps easily follow. The third step is shorter than the second in order that the runner may gather himself slightly for the spring over the next hurdle. ”

“ It was to be put in at an angle so as to slope the hurdle, the common method adopted by the farm labourers who usually undertake such work being to ram the hurdle in straight and then force it over to the required slope. This is an abundant cause of the swinging-back hurdle that is so dangerous. ”

“ Hurdles require the ship to be brought down without assistance from the engine, and after just passing over a line stretched about eight feet above the ground, to be landed as close as possible to the hurdle. ”

“ From the ash woods on the slopes, and the copses, of the fields, large ash-poles are brought, which one or two old men in the place spend their time splitting up for ‘flakes’—a ‘flake’ being a frame of light wood, used after the manner of a hurdle to stop a gap, or pitched in a row to part a field into two. Hurdle-making is another industry; but of late years hurdles have been made on a large scale by master carpenters in the market towns, who employ several men, and undersell the village maker. ”

“ On the third day practise the start two or three times, and try clearing one hurdle about three times. On the fourth day do the same thing. On the fifth day place two hurdles on the track at their proper distances, and negotiate them two or three times. On the sixth day repeat this performance with three hurdles. After this first week of out-door practice, whenever the hurdles are being jumped, the athlete should rush at them with his utmost speed from the proper distances, so as to become accustomed to them. ”

“ Hurdle [125] racing on skates is a difficult accomplishment, even when low hurdles are used, and success depends not alone on speed. The contestant who has not undergone the hardest practice over the bars and learned to take them in much the same manner as does the hurdler who is running on cinders, might as well save his breath, and possibly a hard fall. Of the four contestants entered Don was acknowledged the best, since his long training at track hurdling enabled him to perform on ice in beautiful style. ”

“ Comparatively few races are, however, run under these rules, as the weather conditions render it impossible to have a separate season for cross-country sport and steeplechases, and hurdle races are incorporated in programmes of flat racing held through the spring, summer and autumn, though the ground is frequently so hard as to be unsafe. ”

“ The next day you may have the gorse raised another half-foot above the hurdle, and so on by degrees, until you can sit with ease over a jump of five feet. Always bear in mind to keep your hands quite down upon your horse's withers, and never interfere with his mouth. ”

“ Taking the hurdles is the main thing. There’s really only two running steps between, if you throw out the short step. And what a fast runner makes in those two steps, he’ll more than lose on the hurdles, if he doesn’t do ’em right. Three feet lost on a hurdle is thirty feet on the race, a good second and a fifth. No one wins a race by that much. The work that’s cut out for you is to get your jump so near perfect that you don’t lose anything in going over. Then just steady, hard running will put you ahead of the fellow who hasn’t your staying power. ”

“ The shepherd who had folded his flock with 100 hurdles, and whose master bade him the next day use 16 of these to pen some pigs, and to enclose nine times as many sheep with the remaining 84 as the 100 had contained, had originally placed the hurdles in two rows of 49 each, with one hurdle at each end. He made room for nine times as many sheep within 84 hurdles by arranging them in a square, with 21 on every side, thus increasing the area ninefold. ”

“ The usual hurdle race is over 120 yards, with ten flights of hurdles 10 yards apart, so that a distance of 15 yards separates the start from the first flight, and the same distance the last flight from the finish. The hurdles are 31⁄2 feet high, with perfectly-level top rails. In correct 'hurdling' the 'three-stride method' is essential, that is to say, three strides are taken on the flat between the hurdles, and the athlete rises 6 feet from the obstacle, taking it in his stride, so that retardation of speed is reduced to a minimum. ”

“ Should the horse be at all awkward or unsteady, the hurdles, placed one on the top of the other and tied to uprights driven into the ground, closely interlaced with the gorse so that he cannot see through or over the barrier, will form a perfect, retired exercise ground. ”

“ In practice the athlete should never go over more than seven hurdles in succession, except, perhaps, once a month for a trial on time, for the event is too exhausting. The footwear adopted by hurdlers is similar to the high-jumper's shoes. ”

“ The English hurdles are fixed firmly in the ground, so that hitting an obstacle there means a fall—and this happened at these games to at least one man in each heat. After all, however, it seems a better arrangement than our way, for it compels the racers to jump the hurdles, and if a fall does result it is a good deal more like sport to fall on turf than to carry away several ounces of cinders in one's face and arms. ”

“ If the footmarks of a good horse that has galloped over turf be measured, it will be found that in every stride his four feet have covered a space of twenty-two feet. If, in cool blood, he be very gently cantered at a common sheep-hurdle, without any ditch on one side of it or the other, it will be found that he has cleared, or rather has not been able to help clearing, from ten to twelve feet. ”

“ Each player is timed and his record kept on a piece of paper. If a player drops anything he must carry it back to the starting point and make another trip with it. The next player begins at the table to which the first one took the baggage and carries it, in the same way, back to the first table. So it goes on until everyone has played expressman. The player who succeeds in transferring the baggage in the shortest time is, of course, the winner.
[212]
A Hurdle Race
The next time you are kept indoors by the weather, you and a brother or sister may enjoy a hurdle race. ”