Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-03-21
INDIAN PONIES.
A Plainsman'a Talk About Their En-
durance and Usefulness.


~. Iaul Pioneer Pres
The possibilities of the Sioux pony have
never been dreamed Of said cow gentle
man .I!c Of the ari>tncraCy Of thu genus cow
bow t. Pioneer Pres, reporter recently
You know the Oh plains saying. let
whit. man ride an Indian lony until he can't
make him move a step further. and, dis
mounting. give place to Sloux-the Inter
will ri ie the brute twenty mile, farther that
day | tell YOU they ~ wonderful a ialalS
on their native hctth. The don't seem To
talk kindly to civilization. know bu; n, :
hccaii>e they never hai Il fair chance. WHY.
| can call to mind hunireis of instance, uf
fcatS performed, to remember which make,
me tired III seven sorts of ways when rea
| the rot about Arab steelS ami desert barbs
the school books are full of.
compromising looking. We'll, they are not
Pretty as Il rule, though I've seen some
dandi,s. Turn Jay-Eye See out in Dakota
winter. and give him just what foot he
rustled fur-cottonwood twiSS and lark and
scaMty buffalo grass mostiy-1nl don't
guess he'd show up i'll very marvellous Shape
in the spring. ! was at Sullv once. Just rs
retreat was sounding off sunlown. yuu
know. An Indian rode up on II pot-bell.d,
scrawuy skinned, splay-foote,l. matted
| haired calico and gave a letter from the al
| jutant at Fort Hall to the Sully Il ijutailr.
! To an inter- rct.r ',ho happened 10 be stand
ing by the Indian Il Brule Sioux. remarked
that lie had ridden a good ways that day and
| his pony was tired. The adjuant noticed
| that the Hall letter was dated that morning.
an his interest being aroused, asked the
messenger when he left his post. lie replied
that he started just after first serseant'S call,
| (after daybrcakl. Subsequent invest CATION
| proved his truth. He had ridden that sorry
nag fully l4 miles in less than thirteen
! hours, and much of the way the real would
have been hard on bird | tell you We
! treated that mangy-looking butte rs if he
| had the buest blood Of all the bar,lo in his
veins
! Almost any officer ON the Missouri
river can tell You of the famous ride Gorse,
| the scout, made from the Stanley expedition
! don't remember the miles something over
$40 in les, than four days. but | know be
only used one pony, and went straight across
| the most Goi-foiSakcn country III America.
The Indians differ from the Arabs in that they
have affection only for the best of their
ponies guess shou!dsay had as t. many
OF the Sioux, since they were pretty well
disrnounted i'll October, 1876 Their war
ponies are always the best of the herd, of
course, and receive good deal of care. A
buffalo pony ranks next. You can tell one
by the notch i'll the points of the ears. A
good buffalo pony knows how to eluie the
charge Of mad bull as wei as know how To
skin an antelope; stops just at the right time
and runs at the proper sped. You take n
green horse and hunt buffalo and you'll
| find rho affair isn't IN nft.r oil
I'D like to see some attention paid to rails
ing good Sioux ponies. You can't imagine
how quickly they show the effects OF half
way decent care AMI plentiful fool.
Tricky: Well not 81 terrible. You see they
regard their masters as natural enemies and
treat them accordingly. They are apt to shy
badly, but that's because thcy We stepped into
prairie-dog or fox holes occasionally, AMI
every tuft Of long grass or mound of gravel
creates suspicion. llges can tell YOU how
his five companies of infantry got throu h
the terrible campaign of lSS0-sl. The dough-
boys had Indian ponies for mounts. arl the
little devils would paw away the SHOW to get
grass-mercury frozen in the tube, mind You
and when they reached keogh, after the
campaign, Were actually fat and full Of
| kick"