Mohave County miner., 1889-01-19
Horse Sense.

horse sense.
In the early settlement Of Arizona
owned a horse that had horse sense.
purchased the horse in 1865 and owned
him nearly three years. i bought the
horse as an ordinary one, but ] soon
found that he possessed an unusual
amount OF horse sense. My business re-
qrired me to make long and lonely rides.
The horse soon became attached TO me,
and as the Indians were hostile the horse
would frequently warn me Of approaching
danger. The horse bad soon learned that
l had weapons and could use them.
would shoot game and the horse would
always smell OF the dead deer, antelope
or rabbit. He seemed to realize his
duties and when would draw my carbine
or revolver he would look at the game
and stand quiet until fired, then go for
the game. II ! had wounded the game
he would always get ready to give chase.
] had in the fall Of 1867 to ride from
Fort Mojave to Fort Whipple, distance
OF 165 miles. 1t was not safe to ride alone
in day time; in fact, when we went out OF
our house we had our rifle or revolver
with us. Men were killed in sight Of my
house, stock was stolen from my barn,
my corral torn down and stock taken at
night, and 1t was almost impossible to
recover the stock when stolen. never
made trip over this road without some
thing happening that was unusual and
really endaDgering to my life. While
making this trip / WAS riding down Wal
nut Greek and my saddle got out OF place
/ dismonntei to adjust il and az I struck
the ground mountain lion gave an I'M
earthly howl. am certain that / never
heard noise from a Wild beast that
sounded hall go loud and shrill. II made
my hair stand on end. But the fellow
gave himself away with his howl. II he
had really meant business he wonld have
used his claws and teeth without warning.
Ny horse did not take these facts into
consideration, but trembled with fear.
He rubbed his head against me and in
yited me to hurry up and mount again.
adjusted my saddle as soon as possible
and mounted, and the animal gave an-
other howl or roar as struck the saddle.
The horse ran his best for two or three
miles, as / could not check him. He
finally cooled of, but was continually on
the look ont. A few nights later had
occasion TO ride through this same can
yon. When near this place the horse
stopped and refused to 60 forward. /
coaxed and whipped and spurred and
threatened. got off and tried to lead
him, but all in vain. finally mounted
again and drew my revolver and fred.
The horse at once cooled off. / bid him
60 and he moved off cautiously. / fired
again and the horse started into gaIlop.
When he won.d shy little i would fire
my revolver, and got along all right.
Within two years had occasion to ride
through that canyon nearly every month,
and the horse remembered that place.
1 would fire my revolver when near the
place where the lion howled, and the
horse would start tn run and get by the
point of rocks near the road as soon as
possible. The horse is still alive and /
doubt il he would not remember this par
ticular place on the road il ridden that
way. Lions like young colts and some
times attack horses. It is more than
probable that this horse had been fright
ened before by one Of these animals.
at one time ! had ridden all night and
was tired, as was also my horse. had
waeered at what is called Coyote Springs,
in the Cerbat range. / rode out into the
Sacramento Valley and when the sun got
fairly up l canped to rest and at the
same time get me some coffee. j started
small fire. Ny horse was tired, for l
had ridden him over sixty miles within
the twelve preceding hours, was tired
and sleepy. Ny horse soon lay down.
/ did not dream OF danger, neither did my
trusty horse. / fell asleep and was awak-
ened by my horse coming to me snorting
and paving the ground. looked up and
within ten feet Of me stood young
Indian. He was nude except a breech-
cloth or gee-string. As l looked up at
him he laughed. He held his bow in one
hard and his quiver OF arrows in the
other hand. The horse stood nearly be-
tween me and the. Indian would first look
at rne and then at the horse. The horse
laid his ears back and was evidently
waiting for me 10 shoot, but the Indian
had the drop and had to get out OF the
scrape the best I could. SO claimed TO
be in a hurry and saddled up and skinned
out for home, distant thirty miles. The
Indian admired my horse and praised
hiG In spanish by calling him buena
caballo q good horse). The Indian could
have killeS me had he cared to have
done so, bI. I think the red devil was
!, Ter my horse. did not sip coffee that
but ode nearly thirty miles
home q lively gait. There might have
been other Indians near by, but one
Indian was nough for me for a morning
call. II.