The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-05-31
THE LocoED H,rRsE



The Animal Is Msds Cr..y by Easins the
weed.
From the New York sun.
Colonel Juan d. Mccarthy of California
sat alone ut q table In the Hoffman House
cafe yesterday 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 help him with a small bottle
and hear him talk. and he was just about
to send for Billy Edwards and ask him 10
bring somebody In by main force, when
his eye fell upon a man who was known
to him as a good listener. The colonel
showed his SLOUGH back, made his glass
ring by Tipping Il with his nail, and
chcerily said, Ali. there!" Then he
added: "You'rc just the man ] wanted to
see.'
"Did you ever see a lococd horse ?" said
the Colonel. "Of course you never did,
but ] was reminded of the subject by see
ing the term used in last Sundays Sun.
It's n subject that causes more argument
and row among the stockmen of Califor-
mia than the price Of beef ever did. A
locoed horse Is the worst piece OF proper
~ a IMAM can own, next To a corncr lot in
addition Ia a bursted boom town.. You
never can tell what the critter will do nor
when he will do il. He behaves as though
he were half asleep most Of the time,
hut just when he ought tn he
asleep he'll do more fool things
than you can keep cases on. IL
himself all up in the stake rope until he
cant walk, and then he'll suddenly pre-
lend that something has frightened him,
and begin to kick and snort aud turn
somersaults. The racket awakcns you.
and surprising that a panther has jumped
the horse you rush out to help him. IL
takes you ten minutes to %untanRle the
horse, and as soon as he gets upon his
feet he kicks at you or knocks you down
with his stupid old o And then you
are sorry a 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 n %ravenous mon-
ster that wan to devour him, and you
can't get anywhere near the brute. III
he's tied up you have 20 u the rope to
save him from d~islocating his neck in his
efforts TO escape from that bloodthirsty
saddle-blanket. Such tricks as lying
down in the middle of a creek or tum-
bling heels over head into a bunch of
cactus you've got to he prepared for at
any time.
~ remember a 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
Looping and pacing. and he snorted with
every breath he drew. IL you tried to
lead him he'd fall down i'm more ways
than IA 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 IA roaring woggly-bob and
away he'd go, snortinR like a locomotive
and tumblng down hill over his own
feet.
"You want to know the cause OF loco?
Well, that's what the stockmen quarrel
about. Most people believe that the loco
plant is responsible for the disease. II is
n low plant that grow i'm plenty all over
the scmi-barren land of the West. IL
bears pods that become very dry in the
summer and rattle when the wind moves
them. I don't know the botanical name,
but one OF the ponular names is rattle
e IL is not good forage, but stock
will eat IL when Iced is scarce.
"Some stockmen declare that this rattle
weed will make a horse crazy, give him
scout the idea and protest that the
loco property Of the rafting pod
Is all superstition. A cattleman in
Southern California assured me that
his horses had eaten rattle weed for %
years, or at least had had free opportunity
10 u its " Ue ueNtE az ~ Iototu nbTot
on the range until after the sheep began
feeding over the country in big bands.
His theory was that the sheep tick crawled
i'm the horses ears, burrowed and laid
eggs, and affected the animals just AS n
spider affects n man by crawling into his
ear and waltzing around ON his tym-
panum. II you nave ever had n bug i'm
your car you know how that feels. And
by the way, IL a bug ever gets in your
ear whisky will fetch him.. Cock
your head over to one side and
M your ear with the liquor and out
comes the bug, rs dead as civil service re-
form. ! always carry whisky when ] go
into the mountains, because bugs are
thick there. Come To think of il, perhaps
that is why some people speak of whisky
rs bug juice"
snow, l don't know how much truth
there is in the tick theory about lococd
horses, although the cattleman sworc that
he had found ticks in the ears Of his crazy
bronchos. You see, every cattleman hates
sheep with religious fcrvor and attributes
everything bad to them. ! asked IA Kern
county cattlcman u day how he ac-
counted tor earthquakes in California,
and he replied: It's them id sheep, l
reckon"
what u woman Can do.