170 STORIES ABOUT HORSES.

the inclemencies of Canadian weather without
injury. In winter it acquires an increased
supply of hair, to protect it from the cold.
They are much used during this season for
‘sleighing,’ or dragging a sledge over the
snow and ice. In passing the rivers it is not
uncommon for sledge, horse, and riders to be at
once, and without warning, precipitated into
the water, the ice not bemg strong enough, in
some places, to bear their weight. In this case
the travellers instantly jump on the ice, which,
though unable to support their sledge and horse,
is sufficiently strong to bear themselves. As
soon as they gain their feet, their first operation
is to pull a rope, with a running noose, which
is always worn round the horse’s neck, and thus
to strangle them, and prevent their farther
struggles, which tend only to injure and sink
them. When this is accomplished, they rise in
the water, and float on one side, and are thus
drawn on the ice, when the rope being loosened
respiration returns, and they soon recover.