St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1886-02-06
WILD WESTERN STEEDS.
The Herds OF the Mountains and
Their Fierce "Bosses."

Before proceeding with my limited
story of wild horses it will be well to
state that the horses of the mountains
arc nearly or quite all raised on the
ranges, similar to cattle running at will
over the vast country reaching from the
British possessions to the Rio Grande
and from Colorado almost to Kansas
and the Mississippi River. But for
these herds the stockmen would find it
difficult to control their cattle; there
fore, many men devote their time ex-
clusively to horse-raising, finding ready
sale for them i'm bands at from twenty
dollars to forty dollars per head.
One can easily imagine that horses
raised with no restraint whatever from
the time they are sucking colts and
they receive their. brand until they are
three or fckears ohl, become ex-
ceedings rat best, and flee from
horse-breas stays with his herd some
thing like the shepherd with his sheep,
!. and by frequently riding among them
keeps them comparatively i'm suhjec-
tion, SO it is possible to drive them to
corral or market at will.
The mining excitements and other
causes, however, often induce many
of these men to neglect their horses
and they become wild. Whep l speak
Of a wild horse, you will understand
:hat the word wild implies its full
meaning, for certainly no animal in ex-
is.cnce is so thoroughly unapproacha-
be. Their superior intellect to other
animals when partly bred to good
stock. their faculties of hearing. seeing
and smelling. coupled with their fleet
stand days and weeks of running,
mails to capture.
Confining themselves almost entire
1y to the inaccessible mountains, only
coming down to water once a day,
makes it almost impossible to follow,
much less capture them. and when
band or portion of band goes wild
il is rarely i'm these days that the owner
ever tries to recapture them, knowing
full well that it nearly takes horse for
horse i'm the business. and the wild
horse once captured has been so run
down and abused to bring him into
suhicction that he is hardly worth the
success.
With the wild horses stallion is at
.he head. and is the leader of every
herd, having such control over them
that no band of cowboys are able to
drive a band of horses SO fast or well as
n stallion can. All i'm the band are so
thoroughly afraid of him they keep in
:: bunch. and their speed is gauged by
his own, he running behind with his
head low, scarcely above the ground.
He advances quickly on the hindermost
ones, giving them sharp bite on the
haunch. thereby giving them to under
stand they must keep up. Should one
turn out he follows him, much after
the fashion of the shepherd dog, and
runs him back. Until his band are out
of sight in the mountains he keeps this
mp. Here they seem to understand
that he can not follow them all, and
they scatter i'm all directions. in ra-
vines. canyons and inaccessible places,
So that when the rider arrives at the
place he last saw them (usually around
some sharp point or on some high peak)
he is mortified to find his own horse al
most exhaused and his herd so scattered
(probably only two or three In sight)
that he gives up the chase in disgust.
The usual idea is that very fleet
horse, such an one as is usually used by
the hero i'm novel, carries his master
up to 4 wild horse sufficiently close to
lasso him.
This is erroneous, for no lorse on
earth can carry a rider and saddle sufli-
cicntly heavy to stand the strain of a
lasso fast enough on the rough ground
OF the mountains to catch & wild horse |
in good health, and doubt very much |
their ability to do it on smooth plain. |
1t is surprising how easily and thor |
oughly domestic horses 60 wild under |
the influence of these wild stations.
Many is the emigrant or horse-raiser
who has gone to bed at night full of |
confidence and often pride at the con- /
d ton and numbers of his stock. only |
" wake up in the morning to find |