HORSES IN CAMP. 237 



generally remarkable; though they are frequently 

 ridden at speed over the roughest ground nevertheless 

 their feet and hoofs are generally perfect, and free 

 from many of the diseases which affect European 

 horses. We think we shall be borne out in these 

 views by the opinion of the great majority of expe- 

 rienced plainsmen and travellers. 



As regards the important subjects of the manage- 

 ment of horses, etc., upon the march, the care of them 

 at night in camp, or while out at grass feeding: all 

 these involve questions which deserve such an amount 

 of careful consideration, that it would be out of place 

 to complicate a chapter devoted to wild sports with 

 such details. Here we shall merely say that so far as 

 our experience goes, we have always found domestic 

 animals of all sorts, when in a wild country, to be 

 exceedingly ready to profit by the care, and above 

 all by the protection, which their human owners afford 

 them. They soon become quite alive to the danger 

 from wild beasts at night, and to the risk of separating 

 themselves from their companions, and so getting left 

 behind when the others move off. 



These circumstances therefore combine to render 

 such animals generally more biddable, and more easily 

 managed than might perhaps be supposed. Such a 

 horse for instance will very often show the greatest 

 uneasiness if tied up by himself so that he cannot 

 rejoin the other animals, or when he sees his owner 

 going off, leaving him thus helplessly fettered; it is 

 nevertheless true that if he is not properly secured 

 and breaks away, the same animal may give a great 

 deal of trouble : this is because he is a horse, liable to- 

 contrary moods, and like many a man wants to shirk 



