San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-06-15
"CREASIyG' A MUSTANG.
SKILL DISPLAYED ev TEXAS MARKS
MEN N CAPTURING WILD HORSES.

The Animals Formerly . Great Nuisance
to Cseele Misunderstanding an Untamed
Mustang with q Rife Bsli-Irreciaim
abIy Vicious Brutes.
J. T. Hill. who for many years has been
engaged in cattle raising in Texas and the
Indian territory. remarked to q reporter
the other day: In the early days Of the
cattle business In Texas. from 1857 to
1860. tho 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 a rule they
were q rough. i'll shaped set of beasts. and
almost untamable, so that few attempts
we're ever made to catch them. 1t 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
ranchnen 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 q very fine animal with
man on his back. ! 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 a means of capturing the hoTSes
which is. believe, exclusively American
It was discovered. | do not know how
that blow upon particular sinew In
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
rifle ball with phenomenal accuracy
The horses could not be approached ex
cept OH foot. and it was impossible to
catch them on horseback But, not to be
overcome by any such difficulties, the
cowboys discovered a way to capture
them. Taking his rifle, 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,
wing and remain insensible for ten or fit
teen minutes. recovering completely in an
,.yi+h MI q
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
The large calibre rifles commonly i'll
use were not adapted to this peculiar mode
of hunting. as if they touched the sinew
they were sure to break 1t. and tho
wounds the "A or SO calibre balls inflicted
were too severe The weapon universally
employed in creasing mustangs was the
old Hawkins rifle. which carried a bullet
not much larger than pea, had set
trigger and required but small! charge of
powder These weapons were wonder
fully accurate up to 100 yards, but in
dicted a trifing wound. and the bullet
was likely to take course through soft
flesh around any hard object, instead OF
tearing through it. as a larger ball pro
PEELED by a 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 the herds had en-
tirely disappeared
NOT OF MUCH USE
Some of the horses thus secured were
very tough and fleet animals, but few
were of any practical use Nearly all
were stations. as wild mare that was
good for anything was seldom seen, and
the captured horses were nearly. without
exception. irreclaimably vicious. even