News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-01-29
TOO MANY OF THEM.
An EnOrt Made to Drive the Wild Horse.
OF the Plains.

| oh tue EiHlnBs
Wild horses have become so numerou.
on the plains that some of the stockmer
have organized hunting party who's,
object will be to thin them out. Th,
hunters are provided with long rang,
rifles, fleet ponies and supplies and for
age enough to last all winter, and they
will endeayor to make a clean Job of it
These horses have existed on the plain,
for many years, but of late they hay,
been increasing very fast. They are
quick to scent the approach of foes
feet as the antelope that may often be
seen browsing at their side, and as un.
manageable as the wind. Native ami.
mails when turned loose on the prairie
soon become wild, and if allowed to run
without being disturbed breed very rap
idly. Horses continually break away
from their owners and join the wild
horses, and this is the reason why stock
men are aroused over the subject. Men
who crossed the plains in 1849 encoun-
tered many wild horses, and for years
afterward they must have increased
rather than diminished. Horses stand
the winter much better than cattle, anG
unless the weather is unusually severe
will come out fat in the spring.
Every year large numbers Of domestic
horses escape from the settlers. Some
of them are found, but when mares
escape they are never reclaimed. In
wandering !over the plains they meet
the wild bands, and from that time for
ward are as wild as the others. The wild
stations are the guardians of the bands.
Always on sentinel duty, they give the
alarm when the enemy approaches. In
a moment the stragglers are rounded in,
a fleet footed stallion leads the van, and,
with others at his fanks, away they go
in laundering charge. Nobody has
yet been able to overtake them. Some
times they are lassoed or shot, but such
a thing as heading them off in a race is
out of the question.
The range of wild horses at present
extends from Texas to the Southern Ds-
kota line. They are more numerous in
Northern Colorado, Wyoming and West
ern Nebraska than anywhere else on the
plains. On the Republican River, on
the divide between the South Platte and
the Lodge Pole and the North Platte,
and as far east as the heads of the Loup
and Dismal rivers, the horses range at
will. Five or six years ago they could
be found on the divide between Sidney
and Sterling in punches of fifty or seven
ty-fve, but now a bunch of twenty-five
Is considered large. Sometimes there is
more than one stallion in band, but
one OF them is always acknowledged as
chief, winning this distinction by many
hard-fought battles with his rivals. One
bunch of eleven horses recently seen
near Sidney was entirely composed Of
stations, but this is explained on the
theory that they were probably driven
olt of various herds when young
nj gradually herded together as old
buffalo bulls are in the habit OF doing.
From one horse ranch nearly 200 mares
have wandered away, and it is believed
that one-half of them have joined the
wild horses.
The wild horses are compact little ami
mails weighing from 800 to 1000 pounds.
The majority of them stand about four
teen hands high. In color they are
usually brown, sorrel or bay. A gray il
seldom seen, unless it is horse that ha'
strayed away from civilization. Thei
tails grow long, frequently dragging tht
ground, but their names are like thos'
of other horses, and not flowing to the
knees as they are represented in some
books. The eye, probably from being
constantly on the watch, is larger thai
the eye of the domestic horse, and ever
when tanned the eye remains a distinc
tive mark of the horses origin. Wild
horses, when captured and trained, are
superior to any other horse of the same
size. Many of them are used by the
cowboys and others are broken to har.
ness and driven as carriage horses, being
entirely trustworthy.