An Arab of the Arbaa tribe gave General Daumas full particulars of a
ride he once undertook to save a highly prized mare from the hands of
the Turks. In twenty-four hours he rode her eighty leagues, and during
the journey she obtained nothing to eat but leaves of the dwarf palm,
and was watered once.
More directly bearing on our present enquiry are the particulars
furnished by Colonel Duringer of the weights carried in most of the
expeditions by the horses of the Chasseurs d'Afrique. These details were
ascertained by the Colonel at the moment of departure of a
column:--Horseman, 180 lbs.; equipment, 53 lbs.; pressed hay for five
days, 55 lbs.; barley for same period, 44 lbs. The man's own provisions
brought up the total burden to about 350 lbs. English = 25 stone! Daily
consumption of hay and grain would reduce this colossal burden
gradually; but the horse would never carry less than 16 stone 9 lbs. at
the end of his journey, starting with the load described.
As regards forced marches of comparatively short duration, Colonel
Duringer states that
"A good horse in the desert ought to accomplish for five or six
days, one after the other, distances of 25 to 30 leagues. After
a couple of days' rest, if well fed he will be quite fresh
enough to repeat the feat. It is no very rare occurrence to
hear of horses doing 50 or 60 leagues in twenty-four hours."
PONIES IN MOROCCO.
Mr. T. E. Cornwell, who has had twenty years' experience of travel and
residence in Morocco, gives the ponies in common use in that country a
high character as weight carriers and for endurance on scanty food; they
are also very sure-footed. These horses he describes as Barbs, very
hardy with thick shoulders; they average 14 hands 2 inches, rarely
attaining a height of 15 hands. They generally receive a feed of
rough straw in the morning and a ration of barley, from 6 to 7 lbs., at
night; they are watered (when water can be obtained) once a day. Grass
can be had at some seasons of the year, but the horses, being tethered
during halts, cannot graze, and as the task of cutting grass would
entail delay it is never used.
[Illustration: _Here they come!_
_There they are!_
_On the Look Out._
_On the Look Out._
_Charging on them._
_Receiving the Charge._
_From original pencil sketches by Henry Alken._]
Mr. Cornwell, a 14 stone man, has ridden one of these ponies for
thirty-two consecutive days, with only one day's rest, covering an
average of thirty miles per day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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