543 



FARMERS' REGISTER— THE WILD HORSE. 



Til E BIFFEREJfT FOREIGN BREEDS OF HORSES. 



The Wild Horse. 



Troops of wild horses are found in tlie plains of 

 Great Tar tary, and aligo in several parts of South 

 America. In neither, however, can we recognise 

 an original race. The horses of the Ukraine, and 

 those of South America, are equally the descen- 

 dants oi" those vvho had escaped fro'm the slavery 

 of man. The Tartar horses are fleet and strong, 

 but comparatively of an ordinary breed. Those 

 of South America retain, almost unimpaired, the 

 size and Ibrm of their European ancestors. 



In no part of America, or of the more newly- 

 discovered islands of the Pacific, was the horse 

 known until he was introduced by Europeans; and 

 the origin of the horses of Tartary has been clear- 

 ly traced to those .who were employed in the siege 

 of Azoph, in 1657, but which were turned loose 

 for Avant of forage. 



All travellers, who have crossed the plains ex- 

 tending from the shores of La Plata to Patagonia, 

 have spoken of numerous droves of wild horses. 

 Some affirm that they have seen ten thousand in 

 one troop. They appear to be under the com- 

 mand of a leader, the strongest and boldest of the 

 herd, ajid whom they implicitly obey. A secret 

 instinct teaches them that their safely consists in 

 their union, and in a principle of subordinaiion. 

 The lion, the tiger, and the leopard,* are their 

 principal enemies. At some signal, intelligible to 

 them all, they either close into a dense mass, and 

 trample their enemy to death; or, placing the 

 mares and foals in the centre, they form tiiem- 

 selves into a circle and welcome him with their 

 heels. In the attack, their leader is the first to 

 fiice the danger, and, when prudence demands a 

 retreat, they follow his rapid flight. 



In the tliinly inhabited parts'^of South America 

 it is dangerous to fall in wilh any of these troops. 

 The wild horses approach as near as they dare: 

 they call to the loaded horse with the greatest ea- 

 gerness, and, if the rider be not on the alert, and 

 have not considerable strength of arm, and sharp- 

 ness of spur, his beast will divest himself of his 

 burden, take to his heels, and be gone forever. 



Captain Head gives the following account of a 

 meeting with a troop of wild horses, where the coun- 

 try is more thickly mhabiied. Some poor captured 

 animals are supposed to be forced along by their 

 riders at their very utmost speed: — "As they are 

 thus galloping along, urged by the spur, it is in- 

 teresting to see the groups of wild horses one passes. 

 The mares, which are never ridden in South 

 America, seem not to understand what makes the 

 poor horse carry his head so low, and look so 

 weaiy.j The litde innocent colts come runnintj 

 to meet him, and then slart away frightenech 

 while the old horses, Avhose white marks on the 

 ■flanks and backs betray their acquaintance with 

 the spur and ejtddle, walk slowly away for some 



♦These animals are of a different race from tliose 

 which go inider the same names in the Old World, and 

 are very inferior in strengtli. 



tAn Englishjnan once attempted to ride a mare, but 

 he was hooted and pehed by the natives, and thou^lit 

 himself fortunate to escape without serious injury. ° 

 ^ Sir John Carr, in his Northern Summer, p. 44, states 

 tnat it IS only a short time since mares be-an to be 

 ridden in Russia. ° 



distance, then, breaking into a trot as they seek 

 their safety, snort and look behind them, first with 

 one eye and then with the other, turning their nose 

 from right to lell, and carrying their ionir tail hiffh 

 in the air. * 



The same pleasing writer describes the system 

 of horse-management among the rude inhabi- 

 tants of the plains of South America. The^-* have 

 no stables, no fenced pastures. One horse is usu- 

 ally kept tied at the door of the hut, fed scantily at 

 night on maize; or at other times several may 

 be enclosed in the corral, which is a circular 

 space surrounded hj rough posts, driven firmly 

 into the ground. The mares are never ridden, or 

 attempted to be tamed, but wander with their 

 foals wherever they please. 



When the Gaitcho, the native inhabitant of the 

 plains, wants horses for himself or for the supply 

 of the traveller, he either goes with his lasso to 

 the corral, and selects those, possibly, who on the 

 preceding day had for the first time been backed, 

 or he scampers across the plain, and presently re- 

 turns with an unwilling, struggling, or subdued 

 captive. When the services of the animals have 

 been exacted, he either takes them to the corral, 

 and feeds them Avith a small quantity of maize, if 

 he thinks he shall presend}^ need them again, or 

 he once more turns them loose on the plains. 



Travellers give some amusing accounts of the 

 manner in which all this is effected — Mierst thus 

 describes the lasso, simple in its construction, but 

 fdl-powerfiil in the hands of the Gaucho. 



"Tlie Lasso is a missile weapon used by every 

 native of the United Provinces and Chile. It is 

 a very strong plaited thong of equal thickness, 

 half an inch in diameter, and forty feet long; made 

 of many strips of green hide, plaited like a whip- 

 thong, and rendered supple by grease. It has, at 

 one end, an iron ring above an inch and a half in 

 diameter, through which the thong is passed, and 

 this forms a running noose. The Gaucho, or native 

 Peon, is generally mounted on horseback when he 

 uses the lasso. One end of the thong is aflixed 

 to his saddle girth: the remainder he coils carefully 

 in his left hand, leaving about twelve feet belong- 

 ing to the noose-end, in a coil, and a half of which 

 he liolds in his right hand. He then swings this 

 long noose horizontalh' round his head, the weight 

 of the iron ring at the end of the noose assisting 

 in giving to il:, by a continued circular motion, a 

 sufficient force to project it the whole length of 

 the line." 



When the GauchosAvish to haA^e a grand break- 

 ing-in, they drn^ea VA'hole herd of Avild horses into 

 the corral. "The corral Avas quite full of horses, 

 most of Avhich AA'ere young ones about two or 

 three years old. The capitar (chief Gaucho,) 

 mounted on a strong steady horse, rode into the 

 corral and threAV his lasso OA-er the neck of a young 

 horse, and dragged him to the gate. For some 

 time he Avas very unAvilling to leave his comrades; 

 but the moment he Avas forced out of the corral, 

 hi^ first ideaAA'as to gallop away: howcA^er, a time- 

 ly jerk of the lasso checked him in the most eflec- 

 tual Avay. The Peons noAV ran after him on foot 

 and thrcAv a lasso over his fore-legs just above the 

 fetlock, and twitching it, they pulled his legs from 

 under him so suddenly, that'l really thought tlie 



*Head's Journey across the Pampas, p. 258. 

 jMiers' TraA'els in Chile, a-o1. i. p. 88, 



