 McKeahnie was reputed to have been a fearless rider and stockman.He was known to have chased a well-bred horse through the very rugged country between Yaouk and the headwaters of the Snowy River north west of Adaminaby at the age of 17.This chase was documented in a poem by poet and friend of the McKeahnie family, Barcroft Boake called "On the Range" in which the horse being chased died when it ran into a granite outcrop.