Horse Versus Car

I was in the desert, right? And I was riding a horse, and I realised that it had no name.  Obviously it was a long journey and I gave the horse a name before I got to the end, because that’s just showing common decency to the horse. Otherwise? I cannot recommend.

It’s been fun and all, doing the Burke and Wills expedition with modern amenities like protein bars and energy drinks, but it all just proves that they should have used cars instead. Like, back in Tasmania, I guess we could just ride horses everywhere, but there are a lot of auto electrical experts in Hobart who’d find themselves out of a job. 

They’d wake up one day, go to work as normal, and would be totally devastated to see everyone riding around on horses, or even just hiking several kilometres to work in big thick hiking boots. They’d have no choice but to hang up their wrenches, shut down their entire workshops and just go and train to become horse…people. People who look after horses, fit their shoes maybe make saddles. There’s always the option of horse breeder. Then again, if we ever run out of fossil fuel and there’s a gap of time in between then and the development of hydrogen cars, then I’m thinking that horses are going to be very popular again, at least in that gap period.

For now, however, it looks like cars are here to stay. I liked my trek, but it did prove to me that we need mechanics, car repairs and especially air conditioning. When I was riding a horse across inland Australia, that was definitely something I missed the most. I was sitting there in the blazing sun, just wishing I had some life-giving car air conditioning. 

Also…tires? I don’t want to insult the horse, who I named Burke (I was Wills, ha ha), but he needed a LOT of upkeep, unlike tyres. Hobart has many fine places where I can get those done, and you can drive hundreds of kilometres before you need to replace those things. 

Burke and Wills should’ve sprung for a car-pool, is what I’m saying.

-William