RIDING 



herd was heading. The average journey made in a day was 

 twenty-five to thirty miles, the cost of the operation did not 

 exceed IDS. a head, and when sold in Melbourne they realised 

 from 157. to 2o/. apiece. 



Unfortunately, Australia receives but slight benefit from 

 the rain-clouds of the north-west monsoon, or westerly winds 

 of the temperate zone. When the pasturage is plentiful, in 

 what are termed good seasons, breeding is carried on with 

 profit, but in dry portions of the year, or after continued 

 drought, the results are serious and oftentimes disastrous. The 

 mares and their produce are then obliged to roam over vast 



tracts of country, 

 seeking a precari- 

 ous existence on 

 the dried-up roots 

 of grass that remain above the 

 soil. This materially affects not 

 only the present young stock, 

 but also that of the coming 

 year. 



These horses are locally 

 known by the name of ' scrub- 

 bers,' and in many districts they are the pro- 

 duce of stallions running wild with mares. 

 Their produce is naturally a wretchedly small 

 weedy animal, they are often sold at auction 

 for a few shillings, and if their new owners do not look very 

 sharp after them they are apt to break away and join their old 

 companions in the bush. 



When it is desired to capture and break in the semi-wild 

 animals that scour jthrough the scrub and over the plains of 

 Australian runs, the owner of the run gets together all his hands, 

 supplements them by such of his neighbours as are known to 

 be first-class horsemen (and what young Australian is not ?), 

 provides them with horses trained to twist and turn at every 

 slight motion of the rider's wrist, horses which, like a perfect 



