IN MOUNTAIN RANGES HORSES

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21404, 21 February 1935, Page 6 (Supplement)

IN MOUNTAIN RANGES HORSES

In December, 1931, horses were taken on a trip to the Fox Glacier and a mile of ice was traversed. It was recorded in the "Auckland Weekly that "the horses were not so clumsy on the ice as one would imagine, and the fact goes to prove that for those who arc indisposed to walk to the glacier, a trip on horseback is possible." An illustration showed two horses, two dogs, two women, and four men on a level stretch of the glaciers. Nevertheless, it is a general rule in the back country that horses are not taken to alpine levels. In the early days, gold miners in the ranges had difficulty in swagging their stores to their huts.

(By John Pascoe)

It will surprise those familiar with the Three Pass trip to learn that horses were once taken over the Styx Saddle and up the Arahura track (Westland) to the Pyramids Hut in the Browning's Pass region. As far as is known, only one horse has reached Whitcombe's Pass. On that occasion Mr R. Urquhart was the rider. On tourist routes, where Ihe grades of the tracks are reasonable such as the} Haast Pass, horses are of the utmost value, especially in fording rivers. But horses are only flesh and bone, and cannot take a mainstream ford that a yak could not cross. The altitude record for a horse in New Zealand is not known.