Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-06-05
LocoED HORSES.


singular Eaects o. the Loco o. Rattle
Weed Upon Horse Sense,
Col. Juan D. Mccarthy, Of California,
sat alone at table In the Hoffman house
nervously lingering the big quartz links Of
his watch chain and wondering what had
become of all the men Of his acquaintance
He wanted somebody TO hear him talk, and
he was just about to send for Billy Ed
wards and ask him to bring somebody in
by main force when his eye fell upon
man who was known to him as good lis
tener. The colonel showed his SLOUGH back
and cheerily said, "Hi, therep Then he
added, you're just the man wanted to
see."
"Did you ever see a locoed horsey" said
the colonel "Of course you never did, but
was reminded of the subject by seeing the
term used in last Sundays Sun. It's a
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 ,bursted boom town. You never can
tell what the critter will do nor when he
will do 1t. 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. fyou
stake him out near camp he'll wind him
self all up in the stake rope until he can't
walk, and then he'll suddenly pretend that
something has frightened him and begin
to kick and snort and turn somersaults.
The racket awakens you, and supposing
that panther has jumped the horse you
rush out to 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.
1.-THE locoed horse may have been used
under saddle all his life, but some day
when you want to saddle him he will dis
cover that the blanket is a ravenous mons
ter that wants to devour him, and you
can't get anywhere near the brute. II 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 ut any time.
II remember locoed horse that Sam
Beacham had when we We're prospecting
on the Castao. Sam thought that plug
was Jim dandy, and wouldn't admit that
he was locoed Billy had the meanest gait
you ever saw, something between Looping
and pacing, and he snorted with every
breath he drew. If you tried to lead him
he'd fall down in more ways than a circus
clown could think of, and sometimes when
he stuck his nose into pan of barley his
lurid imagination would transform each
grain into a sea serpent or roaring wog-
gly-bob, and away he'd go, snorting like
locomotive and tumbling down hill over
his own feet.
"You want to know the cause Of locoi
Well, that's what the stockmen quarrel
about Most people believe that the loco
plant is responsible for the disease. 1t is
low plant that grows in plenty all over the
semibarren land of the west. 1t bears
pods that become very dry In the 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 rattle
weed will make a horse crazy, but others
scout the idea and protest that the loco
property of the rafting pod is all supersti-
ton. A cattleman in southern California
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 Is that the sheep
tick crawled in the horses ears, burrowed
and laid eggs and affected the animals
just as a spider might affect a man by
crawling into his ear and waltzing around
on his tympanum. If you have ever had
bug in your ear you know how that feels.
Nov, l don't know how much truth
there is in the tick theory about locoed
horses, although the cattleman swore he
had found ticks in the ears of his crazy
broncoes. You see, every cattleman hates
sheep with religious fervor, and attributes
everything bad to them. asked a Kern
county cattleman one day how he accounted
for earthquakes in California, and he re-
piled: It's them internal sheep, l reckon
New York Sun.