Travelling in the very early morning is found to be bad for animals'
backs; but travelling late at night is not so. An Australian
correspondent remarks, that a party of travellers or explorers in
Australia, on leaving their camp, invariably saddle their horses with
ample saddle-cloths below the saddle, and assist each other by turns, to
fold the cloths in various ways. For instance, if the ridge of the back,
or wither, should be found galled, the cloth would be folded up, so that
the saddle should rest entirely on the two folded pads, as in the
figure.--Other modes of folding will suggest themselves, according to the
way in which the back may be rubbed.
[Drawing of folded saddle-cloth].
The first appearance of a sore back is a small hardish swelling or
warble" this must at once be attended to, either by folding the
saddle-cloth in some appropriate way, or by picking out the
saddle-stuffing, so as to ease all pressure from off it; otherwise, it
will get larger and larger, and a single day will convert what might have
been easily cured, into a serious and irremediable gall. Girth-galls, on
their first appearance, may be relieved if not cured, by sewing two rolls
of soft woollen material on to the girth. The hair from the animal's mane
or tail has been used on an emergency to stuff a saddle.
[Fig. 1, 2, 3 show different pack saddles].
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