CHAPTER IV - THE WILD HORSE

Summary

THE wild horse, or mustang, roams those ‘rolling prairies’ west of the Mississippi, which stretch from thence to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and longitudinally from the frozen Arctic seas to the warm waters of the Mexican Gulf.

These prairies he inhabits in common with the bison, the elk, or wapite, the antelope, and the common and black-tailed deer, and here he is often seen in herds of more than a thousand head.

The rapidity with which the wild horses have increased in the New World is very surprising, when it is remembered that little more than three hundred years ago no horse existed on the American continent. Western Texas, from its vast plains of luxuriant grass and its warm climate, seems to be the favourite home of the wild horse; and here he is found in the greatest perfection, proving the truth of the Arab's proverb, that ‘the nearer the sun, the nobler the steed.’ These mustangs, who graze under the glowing sun of Texas, are wonderful horses for endurance. I once rode a small grey mustang about eighty-six miles, across a prairie, scorched by a July sun, without water or shade, in less than twelve hours. I was informed that the thermometer had marked all day long in the shade 98°, and in the sun—the sun to which we had been exposed—it could not have been less than from 120° to 130°.