by Ben K. Green
The desert region affects all animal life that is forced to survive in such areas. The walls of the hooves of horses become thicker and tougher to withstand the wear of pebbly rocks, hard ground, and the rimrock of the canyon regions as well as the rocky surfaces of the mountains. As this occurs through several generations of horses, the hoof becomes much smaller in width and the sole of the hoof becomes much more concave, which enables the walls to better protect the sole of the hoof, and the receded frog in the hoof is less susceptible to stone bruise and blisters.
After a few generations, the hoof on a horse of such regions is referred to by horsemen as a desert hoof, rock hoof, or sometimes a mountain hoof. The natives of the region consider it a compliment when a horse is referred to as mule-footed.
Deer are lightweight and fleet of foot with great maneuverability, which enables them to better protect their feet, but the cloven hoof of deer, antelope, or domestic cattle and sheep becomes tighter, so to speak, since the hoof does not spread from sand pressure between the toes. Many times points from on the inside of the cleft region of the toe are harder than they would be in terrain that was soft and where there was more moisture to enable the walls of the hoof to soften and spread.
The teeth of all animals, domestic or wild, through several generations of survival on desert forage become tighter set in the gums and closer together at the table of the tooth and will endure without as much as breaking when grazing on native desert plants than those from regions of lush grass and tender browse.
The impoundment of water by earthen dams and drilled wells, and other improvements such as fences, corrals, and ranch headquarters did not make the desert region any better grassland nor increase the rainfall or ward off the hot sunshine. The underground supply of water continues to diminish and the constant robbing of the original source of that water before it ever reaches the underground levels in the desert dooms the region to more and worse of the same.
The skin of the desert man becomes dry and hard and is more like the hide of an animal, with more wrinkles around the eyes caused by squinting at the sun and watching light-floating desert clouds.
Those of the human race who are natives of the desert and don’t know any better expect less from it and suffer less from disappointments. Those who have migrated to the desert and have become trapped by its mystery and the splendors of its sunrises and the fascinating beauty of the desert sunsets ofttimes convince themselves that the desert offers great promise. Since there is well-established transportation across the semi-arid and desert regions of the Southwest, there will always be people, communications and mineral industries that will hold and support populations, but the man who intends to earn a living from the surfaces of the desert should bring himself to realize that the desert has never promised man nor animal anything but isolation and solitude, and all the rest of the brain-storms that the human race may have nurtured about promise should be evaluated rather in the light of challenge than promise, and the desert challenges man every morning when the blistering sun moves beyond that early morning grandeur.
After ten years of drouth the ingenuity of man made a very small shadow under the scorching sun, and any weeds that were colored green would have been welcome whether they were poison or sweet.
A Note About the Author
Ben K. Green, whose Horse Tradin’, Some More Horse Tradin’, and Wild Cow Tales are already minor classics, at the very least, in a rich assemblage of Western Americana, was the kind of Westerner who almost crawled out of the cradle and into a saddle, spending his childhood, adolescence, and young manhood on horseback. He studied veterinary medicine in the United States and abroad and practiced in the Far Southwest in one of the last big horse countries in North America. When he eventually gave up his practice and research, he returned to his home town, Cumby, Texas, where, until his death in 1974, he raised good horses and cattle.