Jock Of The Bushveld by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick ( Chapter 18 )( Page 2 ) Snowball and Tsetse

Against all this, however, it is only fair to admit that there were times when for days, and even weeks, at a stretch he would behave admirably, giving no more trouble than Jock did.  Moreover he had qualities which were not to be despised.  He was as sound as a bell, very clever on his feet, never lost his condition, and, although not fast, could last for ever at his own pace. Experience taught me to take no chances with Snowball.  After a hard day
he was apt to think that `enough was as good as a feast,' and then trouble might be expected.  But there was really no safe rule with him; he seemed to have moods--to `get out of bed on the wrong side'--on certain days and, for no reason in the world, behave with a calculated hostility that was simply maddening. Hunting horses live almost entirely by grazing, as it is seldom possible to carry any grain or other foods for them and never possible to carry enough; and salted horses have therefore a particular value in that they can be turned out to graze at night or in the morning and evening dews when animals not immunised will contract horse-sickness; thus they feed during the hours when hunting is not possible and keep their condition when an unsalted horse would fall away from sheer want of food. According to their training, disposition, and knowledge of good and evil, horses are differently treated when `offsaddled'; some may be trusted without even a halter, and can be caught and saddled when and where required; others are knee-haltered; others are hobbled by a strap coupling either both fore feet, or one fore and one hind foot, with
enough slack to allow walking, but not enough for the greater reach of a ntrot or gallop; whilst some incorrigibles are both knee-haltered and hobbled; and in this gallery Snowball figured upon occasion--a mournful and injured innocent, if appearances went for anything!
It was not, as a rule, at the outspan, where many hands were available, that Snowball gave trouble, but out hunting when I was alone or with only one companion.  A trained shooting horse should stop as soon as his rider lays hand on mane to dismount, and should remain where he is left for any length of time until his master returns; some horses require the
reins to be dropped over their heads to remind them of their duty but many can safely be left to themselves and will be found grazing quietly where left. Snowball knew well what to do, but he pleased himself about doing it; sometimes he would stand; sometimes move off a little way, and keep moving--just out of reach--holding his head well on one side so that he
should not tread on the trailing reins or the long weighted reimpje which was attached to his bit for the purpose of hindering and catching him; sometimes, with a troop of buck moving on ahead or perhaps a wounded one to follow, this old sinner would rightabout-face and simply walk off--only a few yards separating us--with his ears laid back, his  tail tucked down ominously, and occasional little liftings of his hind quarters to let me know what to expect--and his right eye on me all the while; and, if I ran to head him off, he would break into a trot and leave me a little worse off than before; and sometimes, in familiar country, he would make straight away for the waggons without more ado. It is demoralising in the extreme to be expecting a jerk when in the act of aiming--and Snowball, who cared no more for shooting than a deaf gunner, would plunge like a two-year-old when he was play-acting--and it is little better, while creeping forward for a shot, to hear your horse strolling off behind and realise that you will have to hunt for him and perhaps walk many miles back to camp without means of carrying anything you may shoot.  The result of experience was that I had to choose between two alternatives: either to hook him up to a tree or bush each time or hobble him with his reins, and so lose many good chances of quick shots when coming unexpectedly on game; or to slip an arm through the reins and take chance of being plucked off my aim or jerked violently backwards as I fired.  But it was at the `offsaddles' on long
journeys across country or during the rest in a day's hunt that trouble was most to be feared, and although hobbling is dangerous in a country so full of holes, stumps, and all sorts of grass-hidden obstacles, there were times when consideration for Snowball seemed mighty like pure foolishness, and it would have been no grief to me if he had broken his neck!