WILD HORSES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 25, 30 January 1926, Page 32

WILD HORSES.

I OF THE TAUPO PLATEAU-

MAORI REMOUNTS.

(By JOHN CRAWFORD.)

Lying in the centre of the North Island there is a large area of land which varies in nature from high forest-clad mountain ranges, active volcanoes and fern-covered hills to barren, ■wind-swept plains of pumice stone and volcanic ash. It has many points of interest, geysers, silicate terraces and hot mineral springs, bubbling mud pools, peaks of rainbow-coloured clay, ancient relics of the Maori race, battlefields and forts where some of the last actions between the natives and pakehas were fought fifty years ago. This tract extends southward from Rotorua to the lower end of the Kaiinanawa Range, a distance of nearly one hundred and fifty miles, and about half that distance westward from the Urewera foothills. Wild horses roam its surface in bands of ten to fifteen, leading a precarious and lean existence on swamp grass, I roots, ferns and other rough herbage. Origin and Commercial Value. The antecedents of these animals are unknown to the Stud Book, and any reputation they may have is bound to be of an unsavoury sort. They are the progeny of horses which have broken away from domestication during the last seventy years and those lost by the native and pakeha forces during the Maori War. The later mingling of some thoroughbred blood from the Napier district accounts for an, occasional "throwback" of comparatively decent proportions, but, as a general rule, they are undersized and badly inbred. The Maoris catch and break them by their own peculiar methode, both operations, for the sake of convenience, frequently taking place in one day. The result of the combined faults of breaking and. I breeding is seldom a happy one, for with a few rare exceptions" they are broken-kneed through carrying more avoirdupois than they were designed for by nature, and they are usually well enoWed with the deficiencies that all horseflesh is heir to, with the addition of bad manners, a vile mouth, and a temperament to suit. But in extenuation it may be said that tney are sure-footed, able to live on next to nothing, and show considerable presence of mind in a bog. Unless one is well up in the tricks of horse-chanting, to buy one is to court disaster, for the average native may go through a dozen or so before he obtains one satisfactory to his unusually modest ideas of perI fertion, and -when it has no longer four logs and the power to go he will sn!l or turn it adrift on the plains i ji;m ii. Before the war there was a ' fairly good market for them in other i districts at the rate of a pound apiece. When this failed, large numbers were shot for their hides, until, to prevent their total extermination, they were officially declared State property. Methods of Capture. Sometimes they are driven en masse into a specially-built stockyard, for, being unacquainted with any form of restraint, they will rise at almost any obstacle, frequently with unfortunate consequences to themselves. Another method is to snare them by placing a noose of fencing-wire in a suitable position across a frequented trail in the scrub, attaching to the other end of the wire a bundle of titree weighing several hundred pounds, which has the effect of pulling them up sweating and in a state of collapse before going far. They are released before being asphyxiated and tied head to tail and rounded up later. "Tailing 'em over" ie a method which appeals to anyone with sporting instincts. It consists in running down the "scrubber" on horseback, grasping his tail firmly and swerving outward, using the weight of both horse and rider to bring him to earth. It is no mean art and when done properly, winds him long enough to enable the pursuing rider to dismount and make him fast, but a slight error of judgment may mean a turning of the tables. ' It is a risky game over rough, unfamiliar country, and few horse-lovers care to risk their own mount at it. The overtaking of an unlurdened 'scrubber " by a horse and rider is possible only because his customary pace is the walk or the trot, and when extended to a gallop he breaks up very quickly. I met a Maori some years ago who excelled at this sport. He, although riding bare-lmcked and disregarding all the orthodox rules of the game, could retain his seat in circumstances that would puzzle most in a stock saddle, with its high pads and other "aids." He and his mount moved in perfect rhythm, and he could take toss after toss with the comfort and > ease of an acrobat and without injury, j The "wild heihe" was his only source of income, and it was his custom to set ■. out nearly every day alone, returning j in the gloaming with two or three sober, mud-covered, and foam-flecked captives, which would be fastened by a few inches of fragile-looking rope to the hitchingipost of the first "pub," while he attended to an enormous and very natural thirst. Although the Maoris use some rather unwise methods, I have seen two, which, • if not unique, were new to mc. One is to lead the horse into a creek about four feet deep and mount him. The i water impedes his movements and by ' preventing hi inputting his head down effectively curtails his bucking proclivities. The other method is to entice him into a swamp, by leading another in front, over a causeway of flax mats, several of these being removed after the leader has passed. Once fairly bogged, he is gently handled and at the end of several hours assisted to terra firma, exhausted and remarkably docile. One sometimes hears stories about horses of exceptional size and beauty, and a few look well from a distance, but it is only a matter of contrast, for very few of them attain even average height or weight, and although they are very useful to the Maoris, they are of scant value to anyone else.