148 OWNERS VERSUS HIRELINGS. 



generally good to animals, but we cannofc say the same of the farm 

 servants of that country, when compared with those of Britain- 

 Too many of them are new to their work, and know nothing 

 about either horses or cattle ; not a few of them are mere birds 

 of passage, and very few attach themselves in the slightest 

 degree to the animals on their master's farm, or appear to 

 realise the kind of imaginary ownership in " our osses," which 

 is still not unknown, and is so advantageous and pleasant to 

 all parties, amongst some of the best, servants under the best 

 masters in G-reat Britain. This disadvantage is quite general 

 and apparent enough, in Xorth America, to outweigh the 

 undoubted advantage of more general contact with actual 

 owners, so that upon the whole we should say that the young 

 horses of America are not better handled than those of Britain. 



328. — In Canada and the North Eastern States the severe 

 winters necessitate more or less attention to the young stock in 

 winter, and wherever animals are artificially fed, they are of course 

 never very wild nor difficult to catch. In the mild climate of 

 California horses require little attention, and are proportionately 

 wild, but even there, and still more in the Southern and warmer 

 states, horses are surrounded with some dangers that do not exist 

 in Australia or New Zealand, and are rarely left to run so entirely 

 without attention. 



329. — The professional, travelling, exhibiting horse breakers 

 of the country call themselves horse tamers, but the name is not 

 an appropriate one. They have, of course, no opportunity of 

 showing their power as horse tamers, and all that we hear or see 

 of them is, their great ability to cope with some exceptionally 

 vicious or badly broken animals. Even if wild horses abounded 

 in North America there would be no opportunity of producing 

 them in all their original wildness before a city audience. The 

 only difficult part of the taming would have to be performed 

 before chey could be delivered at Washington or New York. 

 Anyone can kill a lion, or a rat, the only difficulty is to catch 

 them. The extreme timidity of a wild horse is a totally ditterent, 

 often a totally opposite thing, to the insubordination of a 

 "Cruiser," an "Anfield," a " British Ensign," or a " Duke of 



