174 'i'HE HORSE: ITS TAMING, 



writer, when acting as war correspondent for the 

 Times in Spain, makes special mention of a breed he 

 met with in that country. Other writers credit the 

 American mustang — the wild horse of the western 

 plains — with extraordinary powers of endurance ; but 

 I do not think that any country in the world can show 

 horses equal to the Arab breed caught in Australia. 

 Under the most unfavourable circumstances grass-fed 

 horses will travel immense distances without shoes. I 

 knew an Arab mare to travel 90 miles in 24 consecutive 

 hours, and neither whip nor spur was used upon the 

 journey. Sickness is rarely met with, and it is usually 

 only trifling. 



The days for wild horses in New South Wales 

 must in a few years be numbered. But for a century 

 to come there will still be parts of the Northern 

 Territory and of Western Australia in which the wild 

 horse may roam in peace and freedom. 



Another Wild Horse Hunt. — In the drought a few 

 years ago, when the northern parts of New South 

 Wales suffered so severely, I myself had a saddle 

 hack that lived without water for twelve days, having 

 been by accident fenced off from the river. At the 

 end of that time he walked eight miles to water, and 

 although he was nine or ten years old, he recovered 

 after a long spell, and at this time of writing is fat 

 and fast again. 



