Wichita eagle., 1888-06-19
"CREAsIyG' A MUSTANG.
SKILL DISPLAYED BY TEXAS MARKS
MEN IN CAPTURING WILD HORSES.

| to Cattle Understanding an Untamed
Mustang with . Rifle Ball-Irreclaim-
r ably Vicious Bru.cs.
j. T. Hill, who for many years has been
engaged in cattle raising in Texas and the
Indian territory, remarked to reporter
the other day: 'In the early days of the
cattle business in Texas, from 1857 to
! 1860, the ranges were overrun by bands
Of wild horses. These animals were
great nuisance, as they would get mixed
with our loose horses and run them of
when any one approached. As O rule they
were q rough, i'll shaped set Of beasts. and
| almost untamable, so that few attempts
were ever made to catch them. it being
considered best to shoot them on sight
and thus get rid Of disturbing influence
! in our horse herds Sometimes. however,
a really fine animal would be seen and the
ranchmen would try hard to secure it
But the ordinary mode of capture, lasso-
! ing, could seldom be used against wild
horses, and these beasts were very shy,
and even poor horse. carrying no weight.
could outstrip very fine animal with a
man on his back. I have chased wild
horses 100 times and have become thor
oughly convinced Of the truth of the
English racing saying that the weight OF
stable key will win or lose race.
NOVEL METHOD OF CAPTURE
'sIn this extremity the Texans used to
resort to means of capturing the horses
which is, believe. exclusively American
It was discovered, ! do not know how.
that blow upon o particular sinew In a
horses neck, located just above where the
spine joins the skull. would paralyze the
animal temporarily without doing it any
permanent injury. In those days the
Texans were nearly without exception
fine shots. and at short range could send
a rifle ball with phenomenal accuracy.
The horses could not be approached ex-
cept ON foot, and it was impossible to
catch them on horseback. But. not to be
overcome by any such difficulties, the
cowboys discovered q way to capture
them Taking his rife. hunter would
crawl through the thick chaparral until
within fifty or sixty yards of the horse he
desired to secure. Then, taking careful
aim, he would endeavor to send bullet
| through the top of the neck so as to strike
the sinew When this was properly done
the horse would fall as if struck by light
ming and remain msensible for ten or fif-
teen minutes, recovering completely in an
hour or two, with no worse injury than
! slight wound in the back of the neck that
soon healed Of course many bullets went
astray and hundreds Of horses were killed,
/ but good shot would secure about one
horse in three that he attempted to
Crease as this mode of capture was
! called.
1.-THE large calibre rifles commonly In
use were not adapted to this peculiar mode
of hunting, as If they touched the sinew
! they were sure to break it, and the
wounds the A or SO calibre balls inflicted
were too severe. The weapon universally
employed in creasing mustangs was the
old Hawkins rife, which carried bullet
not much larger than q pea, had set
( trigger and required but small charge OF
powder. These weapons were wonder
fully accurate up to 100 yards, but IN
ficted trifing wound. and the bullet
was likely to take a course through soft
flesh around any hard object. instead Of
tearing through it. as larger ball pro
PEELED by heavier charge Of powder
would do. Hundreds Of mustangs, al
WAYS the best animals In the herd. used
to be creased every year. and this prac-
tice was kept up until tho herds had en-
tirely disappeared
NOT OF MUCH USE
"some of the horses thus secured were
very tough and feet animals, but few
were OF any practical use. Nearly all
were stations, as q wild mare that was
good for anything was seldom seen, and
the captured horses were nearly, without
exception, irreclaimably vicious. even
when Judged from the Texas standpoint
Even when broken to the saddle they
could only be ridden By the very best
horsemen, and were always on the look
out to do their riders IN injury. Strange
to say. they seldom tried to kick. but .
man had to be continually on the lookout
for their fore feet and teeth They only
used their hind feet when q man was
about to mount. but nearly every one of
them had trick Of kicking forward as
soon As the rider put his foot In the stir
rup, and unless he was wary he would 70
ceive a terrible blow un the leg.
II used to own horse that, I believe.
could scratch himself between the ears
with his, hind foot. his bind leg being sp
pareatly made of India rubber. The IN
slant be fel. Q foot IN the sstrrrp his hind
hoof would come forward vita the speed
of lighting. In the attempt TO trh,c.
mos. vicious kick Igavs up mounting
him In the usual wsy, and always used 70
vault into the saddle without toushing
the stirrups. 8 fed easily enough per
formed In nv younger days, although ]
woald have suuse difficulty IN doing 4
nuw. used TO like 20 ride Wild horses.
bet after one or two Earrow escapes from
their deadly fore fee<. which they would
use If nxn czzelessly stood In fruzt of
then. ISave It up and stuck to the .sns
stock.r-Ss. Lopis Post-pspsch-