70 TRAINING A SHOOTING-HORSE. 



none of the sweetest. The Dutchmen frequently train 

 their shooting-horses to stand fire by galloping them for 

 two or three miles and then firing twenty or thirty shots 

 from their backs. If these horses are at all frisky under 

 the discharge, the merciless riders, plying whip and 

 spur, take another gallop, and repeat the performance 

 until they conquer the restlessness of their steeds. This 

 is certainly not a proceeding likely to improve the temper 

 of any animal, particularly if well bred or having any fire 

 in its composition; but rough-and-ready is the great thing 

 in Africa. 



When well trained, the Cape shooting-pony is worth his 

 weight in gold ; he is treated more like a dog than a 

 horse, knows when he is spoken to, and obeys orders, 

 fears nothing, and seems to delight in sport. I possessed 

 a pony that was so easily managed and steady, that I 

 frequently shot snipe, partridges, and always buck, from 

 off his back. He was my daily companion for two years, 

 and rarely played me a trick. He had a queer temper; 

 but, knowing this, I made due allowance, and we always 

 managed things well. If I spurred him, or pulled the 

 rein, when he approached a hill, he would stop and refuse 

 to advance ; but a word or two in Dutch, in place of the 

 assault, would make matters progress satisfactorily. I 

 heard that his career after I left was unfortunate ; he 

 passed through one or two hands who could not have 

 understood him, and was finally killed by a lion in the 

 interior. I can easily imagine that such would have been 

 his fate, should he be in the vicinity of a hungry lion, as 

 he never showed fear of elephants or any other animal, 



