I rather doubt anyone with criminal intent would use horses even in today's rural environments.The things are to expensive and require a level of care few career criminals would care to exert. Even that trash trapper, ersatz cowboy Claude Dallas ditched his stock after murdering two game Wardens. Horsepeople do tend to get a bit arrogant with livestock right away and the superior atitude a horse renders to people afoot. It's not unlike sailboats who insist on tacking across big freighter's bows because " sail powered vessels have right away." The simple fact is our wilderness has become an extension of the uncivilized behavior many of us seek to escape from. I prefer to emulate my literary hero Jack Burns, rumoured to be dead, polite if encountered, hard to find and best left alone anyway <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />