St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-06-12
THE GREAT HORSE ONTARIO
Makes a Seven-Foof Jump.

| Is OF recent growth, but has taken sc
firm hold on the public's fancy that
it is considered at all horse shows
thegreat drawing attraction. Nc
authentic record exists in England Of
any exceptional high jump by a horse
with rider. In 1869 Jack Spring
cleared 6 feet inches three times at
the Dublin show, and tradition ex-
! lists that Mr.. Bicknell in 1892 rode
| his horse back ward and forward over
| a seven-foot wall which then encom-
passed Hyde Park. Perkins, the
whipper-in to the East Sussex
hounds, is said also to have cleared
feet high" In this country Fred
Gebhard's horse, Leo, was the first
to make a decided mark as high
Jumper. Hampstead, at one time the
property of Berry Wall, and after
ward of Mr.. Rutherford, was also
credited with over 6 feet, as was Mr..
Raymond Belmont's, The Goat. At
the New York horse show of 1888
all previous records were broken by
Leo and Filemaker. who tied at the
then extraordinary height of 6 feet
9H inches
This stood as 1.-THE record" until
the Chicago horse show of 1889,
when the subject of this article and
Roseberry, a horse belonging to
Messrs. Moorehouse & Pepper, of
Toronto, Canada, tied at 6 feet 1O34
inches Ontario is a big gelding,
standing not quite 16 hands. He
was raised in the province of Ontario,
being by a thoroughbred horse call
ed Sharpcatcher, a grandson of Lex
ington, out of an unknown mare.
He was purchased by S. S. Rowland,
of Mount Morris, New York, who
now also owns his sire, as an untried
horse, in the autumn of 1883. That
season he was regularly hunted with
the Genesee Valley hounds, and the
following winter with the Dumblane
hounds, Washington, d. {. That
spring he finished third in a three
mile steeple-chase at the race meeting
of the Dumblane club. The horse
was then taken back to Mount
Morris, his owner never suspecting
his future career as a high jumper
Simply to ''fll in" he entered him in
a high-jumping contest at Geneseo
during the annual July sports of the
Genesee Valley hunt club. To the
surprise of every one he cleared 5 feet
9 inches, and got over, in a fashion,
feet II inches. His next public eff
fort was at the Buffalo International
fair in September, where, after Win
ming the prize as a champion hunter,
he succumbed to Moorehouse & Pep
per's Roseberrv in the high jump, af-
ter clearing 6 feet 4 inches. The two
horses met again in Chicago in No
vember, and amid the greatest excite
ment tied at the extraordinary height
of 6 feet 1904 inches, Ontario carry
ing nearly 40 pounds more than his
antagonist.
The owners of ROseberry refused
to jump off the tie, and the associa-
ton gave to each horse the full value
of the prize. Ontario was hunted
the balance of the autumn and Win
ter, and next appeared in public at
the Boston horse show in April,
1890 He there won the prize for
the highest jump made at the show,
clearing 6 feet 8 inches, his rival
Roseberry's best effort being 6 feet 3
inches. In his attempt to jump 7
feet for a Observation-Disclosures cup,
the society for the prevention of cruel
ty to animals interfered, claiming he
was too distressed to try, though
three veterinary surgeons certified to
his fitness. The association offered
Mr.. Rowland the cup, claiming that
they felt sure he would have won it
but for the interference of the society.
Mr.. Rowland, however, refused it,
inasmuch as his horse had not actual
ly cleared the z feet.
Anxious to prove that his horse
could clear 7 feet, Mr.. Rowland, on
May 18th, gave a public exhibition
at the Washington Riding Academy
of Ontario's jumping powers. After
he had cleared a series of jumps from
4 feet inches to feet 8 inches, the
top bar was placed at 7 feet, and a
committee composed of a colonel in
the regular army, one of the best
known judges in Washington,
member of the diplomatic corps and
attache of the state department were
asked to carefully measure and certi-
fly to the correctness of the measure
ment. On the first attempt the horse
knocked down the two top bars, but
on the second, cleared the whole 7
feet most beautifully, beating his own
record and that of any horse in the
world. ewas ridden by the groom,
James Freyling, who had previously
ridden at Buffalo, Chicago, and Bos-
ton.
Ontario in disposition is rernarka-
blV well ada Dted TO S11ch exhibitions
Crowds, music, or the glare of lights
never affect him. A refusal is a thing
unknown to him, and no matter how
bad the take off" or how poor a
start he has, he will always try to
clear his jump. His sire, Sharpcatch-
er, seems to have the faculty of pro-
ducing jumpers, for two of his get,
Woodstock and Guelph, had already
made regulations for themselves be-
fore Ontario's career began Har-
per's Weekly.
BABOON SWTTCHMAN.