"Saltwater,."

Horowhenua Chronicle, 18 December 1915, Page 2

"Saltwater,."

A U'LAXBOURNJfI AIEMOM.

(■Written for The Chronicle).

1 bought him in Kaikouna; or, rather, 1 got him by way ot. "swop" r or iJilly, my cob. Billy stood: fourtean nothing with shoes on, and was about four feet thick; so the landlord of the hotel wlier'e I had put up for the night thought Billy's broad back and low stature would suit admirably for the landlord's children to ride on. f?i the -ml I got an old racehorse and an older saddle, with one pound to boot, iu exchange for five-year-old Billy an'l a saddle, in good order. After touring on the Uonway watershed 1 went back on my tracks and finished at Flaxbourne (now the town of Ward 1 ) where I learnt the'art of'tnapiping rabbits and of driving pack horses along precipitous hill tracks. Saltmntei , was the na.nie I gave my horse; his racing name hadi been PelI thoujjhi he Trould get himeelf and me into disfavour if he wont by that name on Klaxboiirne, where all ■the hacks were plain ißob, Nugget and so Forth. Why 1 chose Saltwater as his name would bo hard to soy; I suppose it was for the reason that no other horse ever bad borne such an appellation.

It was winter time when Saltwater and I. reached Flaxbourne. Frost and rabbits had mnde the grass as source ?s local prosperity, and in these eircuin«taijjces 1 found Saltwater .the jnosfc tractable of equinos. A length oi rauriki pulled: from under a hedge and held in my hand would bring him full gallop from the lake to the woolshcl ; and if a bit of chaff was produced iu u sack he would "set io partner*" with me and wrest 1« for the prize (Graecollyinan style) with the bag as the orthodox gripping material.

At "sidling" up hills , he was tfio greatest equine adept ever 1 knew. On a misty early morning that set in after a nigliit's frost, as 1 rode him round "The Peaks," he calmly slidi a full twenty yards down a steeply sloping hjll; finished on his feet with me still in the sadicTTe; and calmly continued quite unconcernedly stopping towards the rabbiters , camp, with the packhorso moving well ahead on the track higher up. He was imperturbable. us well as docile. But that was in the w'U'ter!

When springtime came, the grass followed ite well-established custom, and produced green leaves. .Saltwater, also in accordance with custom long-established, no doubt, produced a new aspect of himself. He became I risky as a two-year-old, as full if tricks as a circus pony, and untractable as a buck rabbit. Even crushed oats in the hand failed to attract him ; and to catch him on Sundays took the best part of the 'morning. On week diays there was small ohanco; fie" could be cornered only by a dozen determined men who had ah hour to spare, and a. lot of Rood running condition to draw upon. In the process of capturing Saltwater, two or three hands would doploy to the right, and two or three to Hie left; the eanie number would form :i reserve in the distance, and '.1 would advance on him with his bridle hidden behind me. Saltwater would eye me with' quite an impartial store till 1 got within a- dozOM yards of him; then he would elevate his rearward parte by way ol salutation, and »o by me at an easy trot. When 1 began to trot he cantered; and When the deploying parties tried , to intercept him he galloped. He had no animus in the matter; no vice; he was merely "l'resh," as the Horsey f'ols call it, and determined lie would euter no stockyard it he could avoid it. Usually he would compromise the trouble, at the end of quite an hour's running by letting Jerry Twoaney or Hen .Dickson oakfh him in the open paddiock; and then to see him docilely'follow ]iis cap tor to the men's huts quiet as a stuffed magpie, was enough, to make the .rest of us want to 'kick him. Saltwater was a racer to the last. He must have been twenty years old when lirst 1 got him, but I found he would dc his .'45 miles to .Blenheim on Saturdays (to u football .match!,) aaiil 3o luilee back next day, with his nose in front oi' the youngor hocKs all. the way. It was for this reason, doubtless, that J wan able to sell him on any ternu whatever, when 1 luit llaxboumc linally; ho was a horse of repute amongst iho station hands, and x got the satisfactory price (all things considered) of a. crown a leg for him! .No diouot nis galloping qualities when unbridled had discounted his periormances when sadUed, and affected his selling value. That was how Charlie Alley put t

when 1 offered him Saltwater, as a bargain, for £7 10s or some such sum. "He's all right when you've got him,' .Ai.d Uharlio, "but i get too much exorcise as it is, cliasmg rab'bits that pull up the pegs and get away with the traps 1 Better sell liiin to some of the station hands; a bit of running exercise dues them good alter their 'week's 'work!' " . There was a sort of veiled hostility existing between tho rabbiters and" the ordinary hands ot> the station—as Charlie's speech would hint. So 1 sold Saltwater Bβ directed, and spent) most of the purcHaee" money on a coach trip to. Blenheim, and quite a year had passed ibefore 1 heard of him again. Then a venturesome Fkxhourne rabbiter w-ho has safely passed.' the "Blenheim bars" first and then the Wairau lliver bar met mo in Wellington, and told me of Saltvvaiter'B endi. Ho hadl changed hands several timos during the next hard winter, till finally he waK won in a sixpenny raffle uy a station hand who was ill provided with oaten chaff. The old horse got thinner and thinner, until one diay (the fact is well attested, tool) he waded to the centre of the homestead creek, lay down in three feet deptih oF water, arid deliberately drowned himself. BELSHAZZAE BTNKS.Levin, 27th November, 1913.