Cattle and Horses in Australia
It may easily be conceived, that, in ransacking the woods I have described, and in exploring a wide lake, a new comer has much interesting employment. But riding soon becomes…
From Rambles and Observations in New South Wales by Joseph Townsend, 1849.
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
It may easily be conceived, that, in ransacking the woods I have described, and in exploring a wide lake, a new comer has much interesting employment. But riding soon becomes his chief resource; and, however much he may have been accustomed to a horse, he has still something to learn. An English whipper-in would, at first, be sorely puzzled to follow a stockman through the bush. If he escaped throwing his horse down over the logs, rocks, and dead timber which encumber the ground, and are concealed by the long grass, he would hardly avoid being bruised by the saplings, or dashed against a tree; for, the movements of a stock-horse are very eccentric. He requires no guiding, but turns in open ground, or whisks round a tree, as fast as the animal he pursues. The rider is thus sometimes twisted out of the saddle; and perhaps receives, on the broad of his back, a practical illustration of the power of the centrifugal force.
The stockman is a man sui generis. He is constantly out on horseback in the bush, and knows the habits and resorts of the cattle and horses, and where
"The lowing heifers of their own accord
At watering time will seek the neighbouring ford.”
He carries a whip with a snake-thong, from eight to twelve feet in length. The handle is a foot long; and the man throws the lash from right to left, and brings it back, thus making a double report, which is heard at a great distance. The management of this whip is an accomplishment not easily attained. When two stock-men are in the woods, by cracking their whips, they communicate to each other their whereabouts.
As the horses run at large in the forest, and have constantly to be brought in for different purposes, one has excellent opportunity of becoming an amateur stockman, and of indulging in pretty severe gallops; for, as soon as the herd perceive a stranger, they are apt to set off,—tossing their heads and snorting, with their long tails streaming, and displaying altogether the most beautiful action,—and it becomes necessary to keep them in sight; for, once gone, they are, for the time, gone altogether.
Hene, he who pursues, must stick at nothing; go he must; and, indeed, his horse so delights in the chase, that he would carry him on almost against his will. If the horses are found in an open spot, they are sagacious enough to run into the thickest and most difficult places within reach; and these they select with much craftiness. Sometimes, they allow the horseman to come pretty close to them; then stand and watch him, or dodge him without moving far either way; and, at last, set off at full speed, but presently turn like a hare, leaving the rider, if badly mounted, to pass them in foil career, vainly tugging at the bridle.
A stallion has usually his quarters in the bush. When a man on horseback approaches “his mob," he trots up shaking his head and pawing, and looking very saucy and very proud. He then "rounds his mares up" threatening to bite them; and having his neck stretched out, his ears laid back, and his nose near the ground. He takes care to keep out of the reach of their heels, as they sometimes kick at him viciously; indeed, he is often sadly scarred.
When he has got them together, he drives them away before him, and chases all stragglers. He has his favourites; and some mares he persecutes and drives away, and then gallops back to the herd. Sometimes he defies every effort to drive him and the rest of the herd away. Whilst the horseman is behind, he is in front working against him; and, if a dash is made at him, and he is driven off, he soon returns. Woe betide any intruding hackney! He pounces upon him as a hawk on its prey. I have also known a stallion to sneak behind a stockman, and pull him off his horse.
The stallion is generally taken up in September, and, for a couple of months, fed on green barley, maize, and bran, as he suffers much in condition during the winter, when the grass is thin and sapless. When the time comes to turn him out again, he well knows the object of leading him away; and, when at liberty, stands and snuffs the air, and neighs anxiously. His old companions soon answer him; and then away he goes, making the woods echo again with his sounding voice, and rejoicing in the sense of newly-acquired freedom.
I have seen a horse follow the scent of others through the bush; tracking them with his nose to the ground. This has been observed by others; and it is well known that cattle detect by scent the track of a black. That mules, like dogs, track their companions by the power of smell, we have the authority of Mr. Charles Darwin's "Journal.”
In 1845 there were upwards of eighty-two thousand horses in the colony. They generally want the compactness and power of the English horse of the same class. Their feed being chiefly the natural grass, those points are not brought out which would be developed were they better nurtured. They are sure-footed and hardy. In one year one thousand and fifty-nine were exported. The majority of these were sent to India, where they fetched from forty to one hundred and fifty pounds each; some of them, however, were exported by the agents of the East India Company for remounts.
Some stallions of the best English blood have been imported, as also Arab, Clydesdale, and Cleveland horses; but horse-teams are not yet generally used in country parts. Many ewe-necked, goose-rumped mares from Valparaiso, without a single good point, have been brought into the colony, much to the injury of the breed of horses. Timor ponies are common.
The colts run in the bush until it is time to break them in. They are then driven into a stock-yard, and noosed or lazoed, an old horse brought alongside one of the captives, and the breaking tackle put on; and this, sometimes, in the space of four minutes. The colt is then suffered to stand until the evening, when he is forced, and occasionally even carried, into the stable.
In three days, a rough-rider mounts him, and he then often commences bucking; thus contracting a habit which he seldom afterwards abandons. I have attempted to out-manoeuvre a bucking horse, by cutting a stake shaped like a stable-fork. The fork, from which sprung two prongs, I put into his mouth, and tied the prongs over his ears, and thus the staff, hanging perpendicularly, effectually prevented his putting his head to the ground. Buck he could not; so, arming myself with an instrument of flagellation, I mounted, but soon found that the animal was too cunning to move whilst my patent machine restrained his vicious propensities. I was, therefore, obliged to take it off, and risk the possibility of being shot up into the air, like a rocket, and descending upon my head.
I once attempted to break in a stallion who had been long accustomed to range the woods; but when, after infinite exertion, the tackle was at last put upon him, he, in his turn, attacked me so savagely, that I was glad to beat a retreat. I, however, carried the long rein with me into the stable; and thence, through the joints of the slaps, played him at my leisure, getting a man to attack him in the rear: but when he found, at length, that he was thus vanquished, he threw himself on the ground and refused to rise; and ultimately sulked so seriously, that, apprehensive of the consequences, I restored him to liberty.
The cattle are mustered once a year, and marked with a brand, denoting that they have attended that year's general levee. They are dragged to a post by a rope thrown over the horns; and the scene in a stockyard, on such an occasion, is not devoid of interest. The animals are much excited and frightened, and bellow lustily in almost deafening chorus. This branding is in addition to that which takes place (when they are young) according to the precept—
“Distinguish all betimes with branding fire,
To note the tribe, the lineage, the sire."
I think I have seen nearly as much activity displayed in a stock-yard as even in a circus; for a beast sometimes madly rushes at a stockman, and the man leaps to a surprising height in his anxiety to make his escape; but, as a bullock charges with his eyes shut the stockman, when attacked, sometimes falls down on his back, and thus disappoints the animal's aim. Indeed, this manoeuvre is often practised.
Bullocks destined for the plough, or for the dray, are allowed to range at large until they are broken in. One selected is then dragged to a post and yoked to a quiet beast, and the tails of the two animals are generally tied together; but the propriety of this latter measure is a matter of much dispute and learned argument. They are then attached to a heavy log, which acts as a drag; and the recent captive, awkward and enraged, cuts the most uncouth capers as he rushes along with his burden behind him, and dragging his yoke-fellow with him.
Townsend, Joseph. Rambles and Observations in New South Wales. Chapman and Hall, 1849.
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