Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1890-06-05
LoCoED HORSES.
Singular Effects of Weed Upon
EQUINE Sense,

0ChSSs
"Did you ever see locoed horse 2"
said Colonel J. d. Mccarthy, of Califor-
MA, to a New York Sun man. "Of course
you never did, but it's subject that
causes more argument and row among
the stockmen of California than the price
Of beef ever did A locoed horse is the
worst piece of property man can own,
next to corner lot in an addition to a
bursted boom town. You never can tell
what the critter will do nor when he
will do it, He behaves as though he
were half asleep most of the time, but
just when he ought to be asleep he'll do
more fool things than you can keep cases
on. If you stake him out near camp he'll
wind himself all up in the stake rope
lntil he can't walk, and then he'll sud
denly pretend that something has fright
sned him and begin to kick and snort
and turn somersaults. The racket
awakens you, and supposing that pan
ther has jumped the horse you rush out
20 help him. 1t takes you ten minutes
to untangle the horse, and as soon as he
gets upon his feet he kicks at you or
knocks you down with his stupid old
head And then you're sorry panther
hadn't tackled him.
"The locoed horse may have been
used under saddle all his life, but some
day when you want to saddle him he
will discover that the blanket is raven
ous monster that wants to devour him,
and you can't get anywhere near the
brute. If he's tied up, you have to cut
the rope to save him from dislocating his
neck in his efforts to escape from that
bloodthirsty saddle blanket. Such tricks
as lying down in the middle of creek
Or tumbling heels over head into bunch
of cactus you've got to be prepared for
at any time.
81 remember locoed horse that Sam
Beacham had when we were prospecting
on the Castac. Sam thought that plug
was a Jim dandy, and wouldn't admit
that he was locoed. Billy had the meanest
gait you ever saw, something between
loping and pacing, and he snorted with
every breath he drew. If you tried to
lead him he'd fall down in more ways
than circus clown could think of, and
sometimes when he stuck his nose into a
pan of barley his lurid imagination would
transform each grain into a sea serpent
or roaring woggly-bob, and away he'd
go, snorting like locomotive and tum-
bling down hill over his own feet.
"You want to know the cause of loco9
Well, that's what the stoclmen quarrel
about. Most people believe that the loco
plant is responsible for the disease. 1t
is a low plant that grows in plenty all
over the semi-barren land of the West.
1t bears pods that become very dry in
summer and rattle when the wind moves
them. | don't know the botanical name,
but one of the popular names is rattle
weed 1t is not good forage, but stock
will eat it when feed is scarce.
/ "Some stockmen declare that this rat
tie weed will make a horse crazy, give
him the jim so to speak, but Others
scout the idea and protest that the loco
property of the rattling pod is all super
stition. A cattleman in Southern Cali
fornia assured me that his horses had
eaten rattle weed for twenty-five years,
or at least had had free opportunity to
eat it, but he never had locoed horse
on the range until after the sheep began
feeding over the country in big bands.
His theory was that the sheep-tick
crawled in the horses ears, burrowed
and laid eggs, and affected the animals
just as spider might affect man by
crawling into his ear and waltzine
around on his tympanum. If you have
ever had a bug in your ear you know
how that feels.
"Now, don't know how much truth
there is in the tick theory about locoet
horses, although the cattleman swore ht
had found ticks in the ears of his crazy
broncos. You see, every cattleman hates
sheep with religious fervor, and attri
butes everything bad to them. l asked
a Kern county cattleman one day how
he accounted for earthquakes in Califor
MIA, and he replied It's them sheep,
reckon.'n