A New Jump Committee

Written By: Bill Price

Race Meet Chairmen, Bill Price and Bob Blanchard are chairing a committee to review the present design of the National Fence in hopes that the Committee can present a new and improved fence to the horsemen over the next few months. The committee assembled consist of: Keith Cooper, Bobby Hilton, Frank Hopkins, Arch Kingsley, Jeff Teter, Tom Voss, Bob Blanchard and Bill Price.

Although this committee has not been assembled nor authorized by anyone at the NSA Board, front office or SOTA level, Price and Blanchard have taken it upon themselves to be proactive and move the subject forward, getting input from a diverse but respected group of individuals who share the common concern with the forty-year-old National Fence. Their charge will be to investigate, design, proto-type, demonstrate, beta test and eventually circulate the new fence to any and all interested race meets next spring.

On the historical front, the Irish first introduced the National Fence to the Americans in the early seventies to replace the natural hedge (usually arborvitae) and the stuffed pine fence. The original American Chase fence was labor intensive to pack and maintain and inconsistent in its look and feel to the horse. Every fence at every racecourse was a new surprise. Today, the National Fence is easily transported by tractor-trailer, offers a consistent look and feel and is reasonably safe for both horse and rider alike. The fence has met all expectations — and then some. TheNational Fence has also allowed race meets (hunt and flat tracks) to have a fence system delivered to the racecourse's door, set up in a day's work (including installation of rolls, wings and beacon flags) and be ready for racing the next day. The fence has served horsemen and race meets well over the years but it's time American jump racing moves into the 21st century.

Forty years and thousands of races later, we know a lot about the fence, both its strengths and its inherent weaknesses. With the exception of a few minor safety modifications and operational consideration, the fence and its plastic has not changed significantly in that time. It is the weaknesses which many insightful horsemen and race meet directors have felt needed changing. As horse racing, both flat and jumps, continues to be scrutinized by the public, (we need go no further than this year's Derby), we owe it to our horses and ourselves to demonstrate to the public at large we are committed to safety. We can't take all of the danger out of the sport, but we do need to do everything humanly possible to progress the safety of the sport, protecting as best we can, the equine athletes and jockeys alike. Either we take the initiative and become more proactive or be forced to do it after a major disaster occurs at one of the race meets.

To name a few of the issues to the National Fence's current design:

1) It's heavy — weighing in at over 300 lbs each section, the National Fence requires four men to move each into place with the aid of a forklift. It's also extremely top-heavy making it cumbersome and at times dangerous for the set-up crew

2) The plastic sticks break easily and when not broken, are easily bent — by the time the spring race meets are over, the fence can be a foot shorter with huge chucks of plastic missing exposing the metal frame. Horses hurling themselves at the fence, expose the next horse running through the line of fence with sharp sticks and the metal frame

3) The National Fence frame is steel — although generally forgiving in its exposed plastic and foam rubber areas, the National Fence is made of heavy guage steel, which is hard and very rigid. Due to its construction, steel does not absorb impact. When a horse stands off and lands squarely on top of the fence, all of the energy is driven back up into the horses shoulder or torso, increasing the chances of serious career ending and sometimes, catastrophic injury to the horse. Ideas have recently been bandied about by designing devices to take the brunt of the impact rather than transferring all of the energy into the horse's shoulder, leg or abdomen

4) Inconsistency of the installation — the take-off jump and its roll, although easy in concept to install, has created controversy and injury when not installed properly because the untrained jump crew forgot to place all of the adjoining bolts to hold the sections together or failed to properly tie down the rolls. According to several Stewards interviewed, better than 50% of the time, they find in their course inspection that the rolls are not properly tied down, sectional bolts are not bolted together or pipe stabilizers are missing. Also, from a labor stand-point, the rolls turn into 100-pound bricks when saturated with water

5) The National Fence, by its very design and size, has taken the jump out of the game — Horses tend to throw and hurl themselves at the fence rather actually jump it. Horses don't respect it and even the best of jumpers tend to discount the fence due to its size. The fence size shrinks in height with every race. Measurements on the fence after being run over a day's racing see the fence at the beginning of the day at 51" with fresh sticks and at the end of the race meet day, something less than 45". Presently, the fence, when stuffed with new plastic, is slightly higher and more formidable than an English Hurdle but considerably smaller than a English Chase type fence. The roll's profile is certainly more pronounced than a typical apron presented by the British, Irish and French. It's time we Americans place the premium back on jumping, a horse's athleticism and pace.

The committee is charged with a redesign and introduction of a new, more jumpable and easily set-up chase-type fence with safety being its first mantra. Further thoughts and comments are welcome and can be sent to the committee's co-chair, Bill Price at: Bprice@sonitrol.com.