GRASS-COVERED COUNTRIES, AND SOFT ROADS. 113 



away will thereby be also greatly reduced. These 

 facts, although they may not be found mentioned in 

 any one of those prize essays that are written in the 

 ' follow-my-leader style ' which ' Impecuniosus ' so 

 much deprecates, may be found useful for nervous 

 men to know and keep in mind. Some people con- 

 jure up fancied difficulties. Fancy and theory have 

 helped to bring our horses' feet and legs to their 

 present state, which the generality of people find to 

 be a very unsatisfactory one. 



There are countries possessing vast tracts of grass- 

 covered plains, on which horses are extensively bred, 

 which from their great abundance are there of low 

 value. The steppes of Russia, the grass runs of 

 Australia, the prairies of some of the Anglo-American 

 States, the savannahs of Uruguay and of the Argen- 

 tine Eepublic are instances of such. In the last- 

 mentioned, ' fine colts, from three to five years old, 

 can be bought at from 1L to 4L, and mares at from 

 4s. to 20s.' These horses, which are unshod, are 

 those upon whose backs the * Grauchos ' perform their 

 well-known skilful feats of 'lassoing,' &c., when 

 cattle-driving the unshod horse being endowed 

 with an activity and sureness of foot that renders 

 him highly valuable for their purposes. 



A gentleman writing in a contemporary, on the 

 subject of cattle-driving, says : ' In Australia, in 

 wet weather, an unshod horse is both a pleasant and 

 a safe mount. Many a roll over I have had after 

 cattle on a shod horse, when the country was soft 

 above and hard below ' as some English race-courses 



I 



