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CHAPTER VII
TRAVEL WITH SADDLE AND PACK ANIMALS

UNDER this head we shall consider: (1) Saddles and pack equipment; (2) Animals best adapted to pack work; (3) Outfit and provisions and how to pack them; (4) How to throw some practical hitches; (5) Equipment of the traveler who has no pack animal and whose saddle horse is required to transport both rider and equipment.

Comfort on the trail depends to a very large degree upon the animals of the outfit. A mean horse is an abomination, and a horse may be mean in many respects. A bucking horse, a horse that shies at stumps and other objects or at every moving thing, or one that is frightened by sudden and unexpected sounds is not only an uncomfortable but unsafe animal to ride upon rugged mountain trails; and a horse that will not stand without hitching, or one that is hard to catch when hobbled and turned loose, will cause no end of trouble.

In choosing a horse, then, avoid so far as possible one with these tendencies, and also observe the manner in which he handles his feet. He should not be subject to stumbling. He should be sure-footed, steady and reliable, to qualify him for work on dangerous trails; this is of the first importance. A horse that does not keep his eyes on the trail and select his footing with care is wholly unsuited to mountain work. He should be gunwise. A gunwise horse will not be easily frightened by sudden and unexpected noises.

Whether intended for mountain or plains work, the horse should be a good camp animal—that is, one that will not wander far from camp. It is more than aggravating to find upon arising in the morning that your horse has disappeared and one always feels that time consumed in searching for a roving horse is time worse than wasted. Of course this tendency of an animal can be forestalled by picketing him, but a picketed horse unless forage be particularly good will not do well, for it rarely happens in these days of sheep-ravaged ranges that an animal can find sufficient food to meet his requirements within the limited length of a picket rope.

Some horses need much persuasion before they can be induced to ford streams, and I have had them lose their nerve and decline the descent of precipitous trails. An animal possessing this trait of timidity is not suited to trail work, for he is likely to cause trouble at a critical moment.

Some horses are good foragers, others are not. A poor forager will become leg weary and break down much more quickly than the animal that takes advantage of every opportunity to graze or browse. A horse just in from the open range should be round and full-bellied. This is an indication that he is a good feeder. Generally speaking the chunky horse is the one best adapted to arduous trail work because he usually possesses greater powers of endurance than the longer, lankier type.

All of the qualifications above enumerated should be borne in mind in selecting animals, whether for saddle or pack use. And of course the animals should be as sound as possible. One should never start upon a journey with an animal that is lame or has cinch sores or galled back.

When mountain trails are to be negotiated a saddle horse weighing from nine hundred to a thousand pounds will be found better adapted to the work than a larger animal. Too large a horse is liable to be clumsy on the trail, while too light a horse will of course tire under a heavy rider. A small horse, as a rule, is better able to forage a living than a large horse, and for this reason stands up better with a moderate load on long, continuous journeys. Ponies weighing from eight hundred to eight hundred and fifty pounds will pack one hundred and fifty pounds easily, and ponies of this size make much better pack animals than larger ones.

While for general saddle work I prefer a horse, a mule is surer footed and therefore preferable on precipitous, narrow mountain trails. In the Sierra Madres of Mexico I rode a mule over trails where I would scarcely have trusted a horse. Good saddle mules, however, are scarce. I never saw a really good saddle-broke mule north of Mexico, though they are doubtless to be had. Mules have greater powers of endurance than horses, and for many other reasons are superior as pack animals. The chief objection to a mule is his timidity upon marshy trails. His feet are much smaller than those of a horse, he mires easily, and he is fully aware of the fact. A good mule, nevertheless, is the one best all-around pack animal.

Burros are good where forage is scarce, but they are slow. When the burro decides that he has done a day's work he stops, and that is the end of it. He will not consult you, and he will not take your advice. When he fully decides that he will go no farther you may as well unpack and make camp with as good grace as you can muster, and keep your temper. I believe that burros have a well-organized labor union and they will not do one stroke of work beyond the limit prescribed by their organization. But one must sometimes resort to them in desert travel. They will pick their living and thrive on sage brush wastes where other animals would die, and their ability to go long without water is truly remarkable. On rough mountain trails they are even more sure-footed if possible than mules, but like the mule it is difficult to force them over marshes or into rivers when fording is necessary.

In horse-raising localities in the West very good horses can be had at anywhere from thirty to seventy-five dollars. The usual rate for horse rental is one dollar to one dollar and a half a day, and it is therefore cheaper, when the journey is to extend to a month or more, to purchase the animals outright and sell them when you are finished with them for what they will bring. Rented animals are generally animals of low value and sometimes not very efficient, and in the course of a month one pays in rental a good share of the value of the horse. The risk is no greater, for if a rented horse is injured while in a traveler's possession, the owner holds him who has rented the animal responsible for the damage.

CHAPTER VIII
SADDLE AND PACK EQUIPMENT

THE riding saddle should be a double cinch, horn saddle, with wool-lined skirts and of ample weight to hold its position. My own is a regular stock saddle weighing thirty-five pounds, though for all ordinary use a twenty-five- or thirty-pound saddle will do just as well.

I prescribe the horn saddle because of its convenience. One may sling upon it a camera, binoculars or other articles in frequent demand, and when it becomes necessary to lead a pack pony the lead rope may be attached to it. For this latter purpose the horn is indeed indispensable.

In the light of personal experience with both single and double cinch saddles, I recommend the latter unhesitatingly, particularly for mountain work. In steep ascents or descents it will not slide, while a single cinch saddle is certain to do so no matter how tightly cinched, and this shifting will sooner or later gall the horse's back. In Mexico the single cinch saddle is almost universally used, but who ever saw a Mexican's horse that was free from saddle sores? The forward cinch should preferably be a hair cinch, though the ordinary webbed sort, both forward and rear, does well enough.

The saddle blanket should be a thick, good quality wool blanket. In Arizona Navajo saddle blankets are popular, and they are undoubtedly the best when obtainable. A hair saddle pad or corona, shaped to the animal's back and used in connection with the blanket, is a pretty good insurance against galling, and preferable to the felt pad, for it is cooler.

A leather boot for rifle, and saddle bags for toilet articles, note books and odds and ends, bridle, halter rope, a pair of cowboy spurs with large blunt rowels, and a quirt to tickle delinquent pack horses will be needed. The rifle boot has two sling straps. The usual method of carrying it is to insert it between the stirrup leathers on the near side, drop the sling strap at the top of the boot over the saddle pommel and buckle the sling strap at the bottom of the boot into the rear latigo ring. By detaching the latter sling from the boot before buckling it to the ring, the boot may be removed from or attached to the saddle by simply lifting the forward sling strap over the pommel, without unbuckling. In case the sling strap at the top of the boot be placed too far down, it should be shifted higher up and secured to the boot with a leather loop which may be riveted to the boot.

Method of Slinging Load on Aparejo

(Fig. 1.) Rope is doubled and loop A thrown over horse's back to off side.

N. B.—In this and the following diagrams the pack is represented as spread out flat and viewed from above.

For the pack animals the ordinary cross-tree or sawbuck pack saddle is the most practical pack saddle for all-around use, though the aparejo, used by the army and generally throughout Mexico, is superior to the sawbuck when unwieldy packages of irregular size and shape are to be transported. Such packages must frequently be transported by army trains and they are the rule rather than the exception in Mexico, where freighting throughout wide regions must be done wholly on the backs of animals.

(Fig. 2.) Packs are now lifted into place and off packer brings loop A up around off side pack to top of load. Near packer passes end B through loop A and ties ends B and C together with square knot. Balance or "break" the packs and load is ready for hitch.

The aparejo is of Arabian origin, and the Spaniards, who adopted it from the Moors, introduced it into Mexico. In Mexico there are two types of the aparejo in common use. One made usually of the fiber of henequen, which is woven into pockets which are stuffed with grass, to form the pads, is used on donkeys in comparatively light packing; in the other type the pad casing is made of Mexican tanned leather instead of henequen matting but also stuffed with grass. This is used in heavier packing with mules, in transporting machinery and supplies to mines and merchandise to inland settlements.

The cross-tree or sawbuck, however, is used almost exclusively in the United States by forest rangers, cowboys, prospectors and pack travelers generally, and it is to this type of pack saddle that we shall direct our attention chiefly. It may be interesting to note that this is a very ancient type of pack saddle, of Asiatic origin. It consists of two saddle boards connected near each end—front and rear—by two cross-pieces, the pommel and cantle forming a miniature sawbuck, while the saddle boards are similar in shape to the McClellan saddle tree. This is fitted with breeching, quarter straps, breast strap, latigos and cinch. As in the case of the riding saddle, the sawbuck pack saddle should be supplied with the double cinch. Care should be taken that the saddle fits the animal for which intended. A saddle either too wide or too narrow will be certain to cause a sore back.

Each pack saddle should be accompanied by a heavy woolen saddle blanket, which should be folded into three or four thicknesses, for here even greater protection is necessary than with the riding saddle, for the animal is to carry a dead weight.

The preferable method of carrying supplies with the sawbuck pack saddle is with kyacks, basket panniers or the alforjas, though with sling and lash ropes any sort of a bundle may be slung upon it.

When they can be obtained, kyacks of indestructible fiber stand first for preference. These are usually from twenty-two to twenty-four inches wide, seventeen or eighteen inches high and about nine inches deep, and are fitted with heavy leather loops for slinging on the saddle. Unless the horse is a large one, the narrower, or twenty-two inch, should be selected.

Basket panniers of similar size are lighter but not so well adapted to hard usage, and are more expensive.

The alforjas is constructed of heavy duck and leather, and of the same dimensions as the kyack. They are much cheaper than either panniers or kyacks, and are therefore more commonly used. Any outfitter can supply them. They are slung upon the saddle in the same manner as kyacks. A pair of the type decided upon will be required for each animal.

The next requirement is a half-inch lash rope. This should be at least thirty-three, but preferably forty feet in length. In some respects a cotton rope is preferable to one of hemp, though the latter is more commonly used, and regulations prescribe it for army pack trains.

A good broad cinch should be provided, fitted with a ring on one end to which is attached the lash or lair rope and a cinch hook on the other end.

There should be a pair of hobbles for each animal, and a blind to put upon obstreperous pack animals when slinging and lashing the load. These may be purchased throughout the West at almost any village store. It is well also to carry a bell, which should always be strapped around the neck of one of the horses when the animals are hobbled and turned loose to graze.

It will sometimes be necessary to picket one of the animals, and for this purpose fifty or sixty feet of half or five-eighth inch rope will be required. Also sufficient leading rope should be provided for each pack animal, and a halter rope for the saddle horse. A lariat carried upon the saddle pommel will be found useful in a dozen ways, and may be utilized for picketing horses.

All horses should be "slick" shod; that is, shod with uncalked shoes. The shoes should be of soft iron, not so light as to render them liable to bend before they are worn out, and they should not extend beyond the hoof at side or rear. Some extra shoes of proper size for each animal, a horseshoer's nippers, rasp, hammer and some nails should be included in the equipment.

CHAPTER IX
PERSONAL OUTFIT FOR THE SADDLE

THE outfit recommended in Chapters III and IV in discussing camp and personal equipment for canoe trips is, with the modifications and additions which we shall now consider, equally well adapted to saddle and pack horse travel. As previously stated, our object is to describe methods of packing, rather than to formulate an infallible check list. With this in view an efficient outfit that may be easily packed and transported is outlined, in a general way, and therefore such articles of outfit mentioned in previous chapters as are obviously useful only in canoe travel will not be referred to in this connection.

The wedge, the Hudson Bay, the forest ranger and the lean-to tent are all good models for pack animal travel, and easily erected. Whichever type is chosen, if made of any one of the light-weight materials described, will be found both satisfactory and easily packed. For example, a forest ranger's tent eight feet deep and eight feet wide weighs less than four pounds, while a lean-to with approximately the same floor space weighs about three pounds. In the more arid regions of the West one rarely finds it necessary to pitch a tent, though it is handy to have one along and well worth carrying, particularly should it be desired to remain more than one night at any point.

During the summer, save in high altitudes, one pair of light woolen blankets will be found ample bedding. For all probable conditions of weather, however, in tent or in the open, the sleeping bag is the most convenient and at the same time the most comfortable camp bed yet devised, and it is so easily carried on the pack horse that I advise its adoption. One made of close-woven waterproofed canvas is the most thoroughly practical bag for general use. This should be lined with two pairs of light blankets, that four thicknesses of blanket may be available for covering. The blankets should be so arranged that they may be taken out and the bag turned for airing. One may adapt such a bag to the temperature, using as many or as few thicknesses of blanket as desired, depending upon the number with which the bag is lined. I recently saw a bag lined with four thicknesses of llama wool duffel (providing two thicknesses for cover) that weighed but eight pounds and furnished ample protection for any weather down to a zero temperature.

Pack cloths or light tarpaulins 6 × 7 feet, used to cover and protect the packs, will be needed for each pack animal, and at night the bed may be spread upon them. Saddle bags make excellent pillows.

In traveling in an arid region canteens are a necessity. There should be one large one for each traveler to be carried on the pack horse, and a small one swung upon the saddle horn will be found convenient for ready use.

A folding water bucket of waterproofed canvas should also be included in the outfit.

The aluminum reflecting baker which has been described is far preferable to the Dutch oven—a heavy iron kettle with iron cover—not only because it weighs far less and is much more easily packed, but because it is more practical. Westerners are wedded to the Dutch oven, and this reference is merely made as a suggestion in case the question of choice between the two should arise.

If kyacks or alforjas are used the large water-proofed canvas duffle bags and food bags will not be required. The smaller balloon silk or musline food bags, however, will be found fully as convenient in packing in the pack horse kyack as in the canvas bags on the canoe trip.

Each rider should be provided with either a saddle slicker or a poncho, which when not in use may be rolled and secured to the saddle directly behind the seat by means of tie strings attached to the saddle. A poncho is preferable to a slicker, because of the many uses to which it may be put.

On saddle journeys in cold, windy weather a wind-proof canvas coat or a large, roomy buckskin shirt is a comfort. If a buckskin shirt is adapted, have it made plain without fringe or frill. Wilderness dwellers formerly fringed their buckskin shirts, not alone for ornament, but to facilitate the drying of the garment when wet. In the fringed shirt water, instead of settling around the bottom of the shirt, around the yoke and the seams of the sleeve, will drain to the fringe which the wind quickly dries. In our case, however, the poncho will protect the shirt from a wetting.

In summer, in an arid or desert region of the Southwest, athletic summer underwear will be found entirely satisfactory. Whether this or light wool is to be worn, however, will depend entirely upon the season and the region to be visited.

In very warm weather a close-woven, good quality khaki outer shirt is both comfortable and practical; but on chilly autumn days a flannel shirt should take its place—gray, brown, blue—the color does not matter so long as it does not crock. It is my custom to have one khaki and one flannel shirt in my outfit.

Trousers should be of heavy khaki, medium weight moleskin, or other strong close-woven material. Full-length trousers, with reinforced seat, are preferable in some respects to riding breeches, and may be worn with the regulation United States cavalry puttee leggings with shoes.

Some riders prefer top boots, such as Arizona cowboys wear, and but for their high heels which make walking uncomfortable they would be admirable. High-laced, medium-weight mountaineering shoes will eliminate the necessity of puttees, and many prefer them to low-laced shoes and puttees. In snowy, cold weather I have found heavy German socks and ordinary shoes, large enough to avoid the possibility of pinching the feet, admirable footwear for the saddle. But whatever is decided upon, extra trousers, extra leggings and extra shoes are superfluous. One pair of each—the pair worn—is sufficient.

The hat should be of the Western style, with broad brim, and of the best grade. The brims of the cheaper ones are sure to sag after a little wear and exposure to a shower or two. A good reliable hat may be had for five dollars that will stand several years of hard wear and may be renovated when soiled, assuming again the freshness of a new hat. I have one for which I paid fourteen pesos in Monterey, Mexico, in 1907. I have worn It pretty steadily since in camp and on the trail. It has been twice renovated, and to-day so nearly resembles a new hat that I am not ashamed to wear it about town.

Heavy gauntlet buckskin gloves are a necessary protection, not only against cold in frosty weather, but against brush in summer. The regulation United States cavalry glove is the best that I have discovered for all-around hard usage, and will not harden after a wetting.

The saddle rifle should be short and light—not over twenty-four-inch barrel, and not above seven pounds in weight. A revolver is never needed, though for target practice one offers a means of amusement.

Unless going into permanent camp or into an isolated region, it will hardly be found necessary to start out with more than one week's provisions. Before these are consumed settlements will be reached, where fresh supplies may be purchased. It is well to have along a few cans of baked beans and corned or roast beef, that a hasty meal may be prepared when time does not allow a sufficient halt to permit the preparation of uncooked foods. Two or three dozen lemons should also be provided, particularly in summer, and in more or less arid regions.

Provisions and general outfit should be neatly packed in small bags, and evenly distributed in the kyacks.