206 East and West 
service to that end in a difficult country. He 
does not fail to observe the watercourses and 
striking features of the landscape, such as 
buttes, mesas, or cliffs, and their direction from 
his starting point. This is done, however, 
almost unconsciously and as a matter of habit. 
Hemakes a mental note also of the forks in the 
trail and of any features that serve to identify 
the trail itself such as peculiar outcrops of 
rock. A good trail horse may be trusted to 
some extent to return over a trail: for he has 
a personal interest in going home, but none 
whatever in going away. It is easy to lose 
oneself in the wilderness and it is easy to lose 
one’s bearings in the arid mountain regions 
where the broken ridges are as the waves of a 
choppy sea. Here landmarks must serve in 
place of blazed trees. 
What the canoe is to the Adirondack wilder- 
ness, the trail horse is to the Western moun- 
tains. Your horse becomes an indispensable 
part of yourself, as the boat is in the North 
Woods, and like the guide boat, he is peculiarly 
fitted for his environment and for no other. 
The usual old trail horse is at home on the 
trail only and often confused when, at rare 
intervals, he finds himself ona road. Steady, 
patient, and reliable on the trail, he will come 
