A Day Rounding Up Wild Horses

By Rod Campbell

Illustration By Rod Campbell

We had already spent time riding over big areas of country to see where the horses lived and find out where they went when they were disturbed. They always travelled in a huge circle which would finally bring them back to where they started.

We had also located the areas where they ran through narrow tracks in the trees where we could build a yard that they couldn't see until they were in it. We had located a place where a man could be out of sight and scent of the yard and could see the horses coming and be ready to close the rails behind them once they were in the yard.

Everything was ready for an early start, so we staggered out of our two room log cabin and ate the rest of the half-cooked food we had been too tired to eat the night before. This was a lump of wild pork cooked with carrots, pumpkin, potatoes and rice in a camp oven that hung in the fireplace. We had time to eat some while the water was boiling for a cup of tea.

Once the fire was going, it was stoked up and the food was put back on so it would be cooked a bit more when we arrived back. We added a bit more meat off the leg of venison with the skin still on, that was hanging behind the cabin door. Hoping we would be able to eat some of it when we returned, we mounted our horses and started off. There were four of us: Johnny Hauronga, Watney McCarthy, Bill Mahoney and myself. We had eaten something and were keen to get out after the horses and never thought of taking a bone to chew or anything for lunch even though we knew we probably wouldn't be back for eight to ten hours.

We each rode a partly broken in wild horse that knew the country. We all carried a long stick to tie a white piece of rag onto. It could be held upright when we wanted to be seen, by the horses we were following or by the other riders who were waiting to take over following the mob for the next five miles of the journey.

Watney McCarthy went east over the hills to start the mob off. The rest of us were in five mile stages to come behind the mob with a fresh horse when the first riders horse needed a rest. It was open rolling country, with small hills covered in scrub that we could hide in and see for ten miles or more in many dir-actions. With the colour of the land and the scrub, the horses were hard to see, but the white flag carried by the rider behind the horses could be seen as a white spot for many miles. With it we could see what direction the horses were going and we could manoeuvre to be in the right place to get in behind them on a fresh horse when they went past.

Watney McCarthy took the horses on the first stage then Johnny Hauronga took over and followed them to where I was waiting. I could see the white flag coming five miles away and was waiting behind a scrub covered mound when they passed. There was a beautiful chestnut mare leading the mob. This was the first time I had seen a mob that wasn't led by a stallion. There were three young stallions, six more mares and two foals, then the big stallion and another younger one behind.

Everything went perfectly and I could see Bill close behind them on a grey horse. They were galloping across a flat and had to go up a steep bank into a concealed yard. The wild horses all went up the bank but I couldn't see Bill and his grey horse I just couldn't imagine what could have happened to them. Then I saw Bill running up the bank to shut the gate. I thought his horse must have fallen and gone in with the mob.

When I got there and we were looking at the horses I asked Bill where his horse was. He said, "I don't know. It just disappeared!" One second he was on it, and the next he was on the ground and couldn't see his horse anymore. So he ran up the bank thinking, like I did, that it must have gone in with the mob. We could see for miles all around us and there was no sign of a grey horse. The ground was mostly covered in tussock with patches of small monowai scrub about knee high, or a bit higher in places, but no sign of that missing horse, saddle and bridle.

While we were waiting for Watney and Johnny to come, Bill and I started tying the horses up. We tied them all up for an hour or so to get them used to the ropes, then left them in the yard all night ready to be led fifteen miles home next day. To tie them up we first lassoed the biggest stallion so he wouldn't harm any of the others galloping around the yard. With two men holding the rope tight, it is possible to keep the horse's head towards you. Then by moving forward very slowly and gently, you could get close enough for it to smell your hand. We let it do this for a minute then very slowly and gently we touched and stroke:! its nose with one finger or the back of our hand. In a few minutes you could stroke it right up the nose between the eyes. One false move or quick movement and they might hit you with both front feet, so it was necessary to move slowly and gently.

I had learnt from an Australian aborigine how to make a perfect halter with a lasso rope. You gently make a half hitch around the nose then another bigger one over that and down through it again and up over the ears. Then in the slack under the jaw put two more half hitches. This is a perfect halter for tying up a wild horse. It keeps its head straight, can't tighten enough to hurt the horse and will loosen off when the horse takes weight off it.

Using this method, we caught and haltered each horse with the ropes we had hidden near the yard the day before. We patted and stroked and made friends with each one before we tied it up and after such a long run they didn't fight much and weren't really frightened because they had all their friends there with them.

When Johnny and Watney arrived, Bill and I were walking over the ground where the horse had disappeared. We were all there looking around when Bill saw some short scrub moving. When he was moving over to it, a horse's head appeared then it slowly stood up and climbed out of the hole it had been lying in. It had evidently knocked itself unconscious with the fall.

Once we were able to get our hands on a wild animal and gently stroke them, they would stand quietly and seemed to enjoy being close. In those days we never dreamed there was energy coming from our hands that would benefit anything in any way. Later we learnt that this energy was of great benefit to anyone in pain.

We let all the horses loose in the yard for the night then rode home and ate anything that was cooked. We put some more food on to take its chance of cooking itself and fell into bed.