The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-01-09
Horses i'm Australia.

IOI SCc Al AuSNE
The feats of the Australian race-horse
are only beaten upon the best course in
England, and for bottom it is questioned
if the colonial horse has been excelled.
No amusement is so general as racing, no
people so addicted to it; nowhere is the
horse in such general use as in Australia.
I 1t is not confined to one class or one
district, as it may be elsewhere, it is the
/ amusement of the country. There are
cricket and all games, coursing, hunting,
yachting; and many sports; but horse
racing is the first and universal favorite.
In the bush, every small village has its
fastest horses; nearly every station in
| dulges in little racing; for horses are
everywhere, and constantly used by all
the population; as it is so easy to keep
any animal in its climate, horses costing
nothing. They are born and bred
broke in and worked all their lives-up-
on grass and in the bush, without any
shelter, or, we may say, any grooming.
These are the ordinary horses of the
country. Race horses and pet hacks, or
hunters, or heavy draHght-horses, are
fed and stabbed, being for special work;
but they are exceptional. And as grass
is so plentiful, and as horses, like cat
tie, require no looking after beyond
keeping them within some limits, they
have increased far and beyond all limits
of use or profit. They are more than
unstable, and worse than useless. In
many of the old districts of New South
Wales they run wild in thousands; they
difficult to collect in any way; they eat
the food of other profitable stock, and
are only scourge upon the pastures
Hence they have to be exterminated like
vermin. In many parts of the country
they are shot by hired men, for so much
per head, and are collected and destroyed
Systematically. They abound in wild
mobs upon mountains of the most rug
ged and inaccessible character, as we'll
as upon the widest plains of the interi-
or; always degenerating; becoming
smaller, weaker, and wilder.
The wild horse of the ranges becomes
very active and wiry, and has hoofs of
iron, with the foothold of a mule. He
scrambles over rocks, and gallops down
slopes which no ether horse, under any
circumstances, could be made to face
He can only be obtained by carefully
stalking and coaxing into defles, or by
fences leading into yards, and run
through by one man after another; or, if
upon the plains, the wild horse gallops
till he falls. Here he may be got by
coaching" like wild cattle, but by an
other system of hunting. Daylight is
chosen for this, as some galloping may
be expected, and mob of quiet horses
taken as coaches, and drawn quietly ont
as decoys. When the wild mob first see
the others they are very shy of joining
them, and will not remain with them
of their choice. The old patriarch will
round up his troop, and then trot out
and gaze upon the strangers-his head
erect, ears forward, and nostrils dilated
his heavy crest lifting long, tangled
mane-he challenges the intruders.-
They will take no notice. Then the
wild-horse goes round his own, and
drives them back little. He again sa-
lutes the others; and this time he ex-
amines them and passes through the lot.
The wild troop then trot up, the foals
frolicking in front; they will gallop
round the others and wheel back again;
their "sire" goes out, and steadies them.
And SO on for some minutes. They
might break away at length, and per-
haps leave the coaches. But the stock
men must watch their opportunity, and
round up the whole two mobs together.
A stampede is sure to ensue, and most of
the wild ones be lost-they will break
away, straight across the plains, trusting
TO their speed alone, but they cannot
last long. A stable horse will run them
down under any weight, and most stock
horses can head them again and again;
but they will not stop; wild horses do
not readily steady; and, in attempts to
get, them, many are run until they drop
dead on the plain; many foals are left;
and the whole dwindle by the boiling
and knocking up until perhaps only half
of the original wild mob reaches the
yard. Then even that half result is un-
satisfactory; for, out of hundred such
wild animals, there are not perhaps three
head worth breaking-in; possibly some
''coach" has been lost, or some stock
horse injured. The only gain is the re-
moval of the lot from the pasture they
were occupying, which they held to the
annoyance and risk of the quiet horses,
and to the loss of food for all other
stock.-RGnken's " Dominion Of Australia"