Pack horse

“ The word "pack" itself is a joy to the outdoor man, for it is only outdoor men who use the word pack for carry, and who call a bundle or load a pack. The reason for this is that the real wilderness man, explorer, prospector, hunter, trapper or scout, packs all his duffel into a bundle which he carries on his back, in two small saddle-bags which are carried by his husky dogs, or a number of well-balanced bundles which are lashed on the pack saddle with a diamond hitch over the back of a pack horse. ”

“ In an emergency the Western horse is not apt to lose his head. When a pack-horse falls down, he lies still without struggle until eased of his pack and told to get up. If he slips off an edge, he tries to double his fore legs under him and slide. Should he find himself in a tight place, he waits patiently for you to help him, and then proceeds gingerly. A friend of mine rode a horse named Blue. One day, the trail being slippery with rain, he slid and fell. My friend managed a successful jump, but Blue tumbled about thirty feet to the bed of the cañon. ”

“ The horses most frequently used in hunting and hawking were the tiny native breed. Inasmuch, however, as these sports were usually followed on foot, any wiry, swift animal was sufficient for occasional need.
"The pack-horse, with his pack-saddle laden with merchandise, was a familiar object not only on the highway, but on numerous tracks known as pack-horse roads, which are still pointed out in numerous parts of the country. His pace was neither to trot nor amble, but a fast walk known as a foot-pace." (Madden.) ”

“ They were coming in from buffalo hunting, and some were leading in the pack horses loaded down with meat. A man came along, riding a horse packed with meat, and leading another pack horse, and a black spotted horse that was his running horse. These running horses are ridden only on the chase or on war parties, and are well cared for. After being used they are taken down to the river and are washed and cleaned with care. When the boy saw this spotted horse, he thought to himself that this was the horse that he would take. ”

“ But if you lead a pack horse do not grow tired of holding the rope and tie it to the horn of the saddle. This is a dangerous practice and may result in serious injury to the one who is so thoughtless, for the pack horse may become frightened and bolt or may swing around, wrapping the rope around the rider. ”

“ Having bought your ponies and hired a man as camp cook who can pack and look after the beasts, take precautions against losing your animals. Of course your packer ought to do this, but he won’t. Buy picket pegs and ropes for your saddle-horses, and good leather hobbles for the pack animals, as well as a bell for the leader of the pack train, and see, personally, that for the first few nights, at any rate, every horse is hobbled or picketed, including even your hunter’s horse, in spite of his protestations that ‘that cayuse won’t stray’ ”

“ A poor forager will become leg weary and break down much more quickly than the animal that takes advantage of every opportunity to graze or browse. A horse just in from the open range should be round and full-bellied. This is an indication that he is a good feeder. Generally speaking the chunky horse is the one best adapted to arduous trail work because he usually possesses greater powers of endurance than the longer, lankier type.
All of the qualifications above enumerated should be borne in mind in selecting animals, whether for saddle or pack use. ”

“ Equipment of the traveler who has no pack animal and whose saddle horse is required to transport both rider and equipment.
Comfort on the trail depends to a very large degree upon the animals of the outfit. A mean horse is an abomination, and a horse may be mean in many respects. A bucking horse, a horse that shies at stumps and other objects or at every moving thing, or one that is frightened by sudden and unexpected sounds is not only an uncomfortable but unsafe animal to ride upon rugged mountain trails ”

“ Many of them are what is known as "camp horses"; that is, horses trained for mustering and cutting out work on the cattle camp. Quick to wheel, to dodge, to out-manoeuvre the charging bullock, and even to divine the enemy's intention; skilful in wedging through a pack; ready to advance backwards, so to speak, and to use heels when head and shoulders unavail; needing scarce any control, and with a keen zest for the work, the camp horse is an invaluable auxiliary on a cattle run.
Both M'Intyre and Gill were specially well mounted on favourites of the above-named variety. ”

“ If the load swung on one side of the horse is heavier than that on the opposite side, there will be a continual drawing down of the pack saddle on the heavier side, resulting almost certainly in injury to the animal. Inattention or willful carelessness on the part of packers in balancing the pack is five times out of six the cause which leads to sore-backed pack animals.
If two or more pack animals are used, let such provisions and utensils as are in constant use and will be needed at once by the cook, be packed on one animal. Hobbles and bell should also be carried on this animal. ”

“ You will furthermore want a pack-cinch and a pack-rope for each horse. The former are of canvas or webbing provided with a ring at one end and a big bolted wooden hook at the other. The latter should be half-inch lines of good quality. Thirty-three feet is enough for packing only; but we usually bought them forty feet long, so they could be used also as picket-ropes. Do not fail to include several extra. They are always fraying out, getting broken, being cut to free a fallen horse, or becoming lost. ”

“ If the bull-finch be too strong, the hunter may stick in it, or forcing through it into the ditch on the other side, may leave his owner hanging like a bird's-nest in its branches. An ox-fence—composed of two ditches, a bank, a pair of hedges, and a stiff, low, oak rail—may altogether prove too broad to be cleared. Timber also may be too high to be topped; yet, in all these cases, if the rider be but willing, the noble horse is always ready, ay, eager, to do his very best, and many a broken back and prostrate carcase, divested of its saddle and bridle, has been the melancholy result ”

“ He cracks his whip; the horses throw up their heads and break into a canter; the cavaliers turn pea-green about the chops, let go the reins and clutch saddle-pommels.
The leading horse, a rakish chestnut, finding his head free at last and being heartily fed-up with the whole business, suddenly bolts out of the manège and legs it across the meadow, en route for stables and tea. ”

“ They never groom their horses and never clean the harness or bits, yet the horses keep fit as fiddles and look really well too. Their intelligence is extraordinary. Almost every night I see the old chap, at whose farm I keep my own horses, come in with four or five horses from ploughing—riding on one, not in the orthodox fashion, i.e., astride, but with both legs hanging over the horse's near side, something like ladies' style of riding, but without saddle, braces, or stirrups. He is leading no fewer than four other horses on one rein—a remarkable thing in itself. ”

“ Mills replied. “Lots o’ times, while you’re throwing the hitch, that canvas band under the tail works up and sort o’ tickles the horse, and then, Oh, Boy, look out! Your plug’ll buck, and a packhorse don’t reckon he’s done a real good job o’ buckin’ till he’s covered about three square acres of ground, and deposited canned beef, 80 tea, syrup, blankets, axes, coffee-pots and a few other things entirely over said area. Then, when you cinch him tight before you start, too, he’s likely to feel that’s goin’ to interfere with his digestion, and start buckin’. A packhorse is an ornery critter.” ”

“ Again, in the hunting-field, a noble, high-couraged horse, a rusher at any description of fence, the very sight of which seems to inflame his ardour, in most gallant style charges a brook, which when he is in the air he sees is too broad to be cleared. On his chest striking against the bank, and while his rider, delighted at feeling that he is not a bit hurt, is luxuriously rolling over and over on the green grass like a rabbit that at full speed has been shot dead, this gallant steed makes two, three, or four desperate efforts to get to him ”

“ Take your stick and ply it on his hind parts again; if he resists, jerk suddenly on the reins and say “Whoa.” Ply the stick until all fear is removed. You can now safely hitch your animal to a cart, as seen in engraving, using no breeching. Drive him a short time, simultaneously pull on the reins and say “Whoa,” at the same time allowing the cart to come against his heels. Push the cart sharply against him, saying “Whoa,” each time, speaking with considerable force, that he may understand you design to conquer. Don’t forget to caress when the horse obeys. ”

“ Usually he at first turns and runs, and you dash after him through timber or over plain, the great loop of your lariat circling and hissing about your head, the noble horse between your knees straining every muscle in pursuit, until, come to fit distance, the loop is cast. It settles and tightens round the monster's horns, and your horse stops and braces himself to the shock that may either throw the quarry or cast horse and rider to the ground, helpless, at his mercy. ”

“ Confident in the qualities of his steed, he knows he will not long ride in the rear.
And the blood-bay answers his expectations. As if joyed at being relieved from his inert load—to him an incubus inexplicable—and inspired by the pressure of his master’s knees, the noble horse springs off over the prairie turf—in long sinewy strides, showing that his body still retains its strength, and his limbs their elasticity. ”

“ Yesterday we halted at Furreedpoor, where there was an excellent plain for the native horse to show off their manner of fighting, and we all went out in the evening to see them. They stick a tent-pin in the ground, drive it in with mallets, and then going full gallop drive a spear in it and draw it out again. They drop their bridles when the horse is going at his utmost speed, and then suddenly turn round in the saddle and fire at their pursuers. ”

“ They are strikingly pretty in the singular costume which sets off their fine persons to the greatest advantage. They are moreover shy as roes, and chaste as vestals. Every thing shows the mountain character; my horse among the rest:—unwearied as a machine of steel, he gallops over the stones, up hill and down; leaps with undisturbed composure over the gates which continually intercept my way across the fields, and tires me long before he feels the least fatigue himself. ”

“ Now the owner has a confirmed kicker, and frequently knows not what to do to correct the fault he has himself established. The instructions below, if properly applied, will effect a cure.
When your horse is down, as seen in the engraving, place a strap under his tail and commence moving it up and down; should he kick, or show signs of resistance, at once punish him; if not, [238] caress him, and in a short time his tail will become limber and he will be taught to not be afraid, though, in driving, the rein should get under his tail. ”

“ THE WAR SADDLE. During the five centuries in which body armour slowly increased in weight, and horse armour was added to the burden, the dappled woodland horse of Northern Europe was bred from strength to strength to take the growing load. So we came by our Destriérs, now known as the cart horse breeds, such as the Percheron, Cleveland Bay, and Suffolk Punch, and the heavy draught such as the Shire and Clydesdale. ”

“ Horses high in mettle, ardent in the course, without a stimulus of any kind, struggle neck and neck for victory; they approach the winning post; one jockey flogs more powerfully than his compeers; the agonized horse, in his fearful efforts, is lifted as it were from the ground, by two or three desperate twinings (the stabbing at the sides is but a variety of the torture) of the cutting whalebone round his flanks ”

“ The art of packing a horse is one which every one in mountain countries away from railroads should understand. Packing a horse simply means tying a load over his back. There are a great many hitches used for this purpose by Western mountaineers, but the celebrated diamond hitch will answer most purposes.
Hunting and steeplechasing, leaping fences and ditches, are the highest art of horsemanship. It is difficult to teach an old horse to be a hunter, but with a young one you can soon get him to take a low obstacle or narrow ditch, and by gradually increasing the distance make a jumper of him. ”

“ To meet the need of having horses instantly available, I used two fields, the richer for night pasture, the poorer for my horse lines and drill ground. As horses in pasture grow wild and difficult to catch if chased about by recruits, I had a rope tied to a tree near the corner of the field, and held outward by two men, forming an enclosure into which the herd was drifted for catching after the night's rest. Drifting and catching needed no more time than the work of unshackling on the lines. ”

“ It often happens that, whether in the hunt or warfare, the rider is thrown from his horse. In such a case, as soon as he touches the ground, he seizes the lasso, stops his well-trained horse with a jerk, leaps on its back, and is at once ready to renew the combat or the chase. ”