202 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



acquire it are removed at once from the pastures ; 

 but they cannot always be detected, the native dog 

 and other causes being often wrongfully suspected 

 in the first instance. I knew a stock-owner in one of 

 the southern districts who kept a numerous herd of 

 mares, amongst which he had latel}^ introduced a 

 promising horse ; some months afterwards he visited 

 his station, when he made the usual inquiries of his 

 stock-keeper concerning the state of his stud, and 

 was informed that, owing to a drought, they were all 

 rather thin, except the new horse, whose condition 

 was excellent ; ' and,' added the man, ' it's no 

 wonder, for he eats all the foals ; ' and, in short, it 

 .turned out, to the dismay of the proprietor, that, 

 although he had not actually eaten, yet he had 

 destroyed, all that he could lay hold of, which did 

 not except man3\ 



This extraordinary propensity is usually peculiar 

 to horses which have long been running at large; 

 but this is not always the case, for I remember a 

 remarkable instance of it in an animal that was 

 constantly worked. Ee was tethered in his owner's 

 paddock, when a man, leading a large Clydesdale mare 

 and her young foal, passed within reach of his rope ; 

 the horse, seeing the young foal within the length of 

 his tether, immediately seized him, threw him down 

 and would have killed him in a very short time, had it 

 not been for a lucky thought which struck the groom, 

 who, guessing from the violent efforts made by the 



