152 THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 



pride Ricardo leads my saddle mare to the door and 

 tells me how she ran to meet him, nickering and 

 holding out an injured foot, sure that he would re- 

 lieve her distress. How good to watch the horses 

 going readily to their work because in return for it 

 they are considerately treated. And this is not 

 sentimentality, but plain horse-sense. 



Did space permit, more than one characteristic 

 anecdote could be related of horses and their grati- 

 tude — horses sold months before finding their own 

 way back to the ranch and greeting and being greet- 

 ed by their four footed comrades of old with en- 

 thusiasm, and running to their former owner's 

 hand — but here a halt must be called. 



