Milford chronicle., 1892-01-22
THE WILD HORSE.
He Makes ROvers of His DOmestioated
Brethren When He Meets Them.

He Makes ROVers OF His DOmestiCated
Brethren when He Meets Them.
Very young students, in their first at
tempts at composition, often informed us
that the horse is a useful animal This
sweeping generalization is subject to i'm
portant notifications before it is accepted
in all communities. There are many thou
| sands Of horses that toll not like their pro
| genitors, but go like the wind where il
| listeth, and are looked upon as intolerable
/ nuisances in the civilized regions they
! sometimes invade. Our Australian friends.
I for instance, are no lovers of the horse in
his untamed state, and some of the colonies
set price upon his head, and do ali they
can to stimulate movements for his de
struction.
Several thousand wild horses were shot
in New South Wales alone in 1875 These
rovers Of the plains play the mischief with
domes Sated animals when they come
among Ii and the colonists are very
much disg1sted to observe that the noble
horse, relapsihS. into barbar.sm, and for
getting his oats AID the other comforts Of
civilization, runs Oh with his wild breth
ren who have not enjayed his superior ad
vantages.
It tmust be confessed skAat our horses need
the restraint imposed upon them to Prev .ii
them from disgracing their ancestors, who
were certainly domesticated when they
were introduced into this country. Years
ago it used to be the custom in our south
western territory to brand the young stock. |
and even many work animals, and tarn
them loose to shift for themselves for n /
year or 6wO. When they were wanted
they were always as wild as Mexican mus
tangs. Mr. Powell wrote a book on the
best method of tanning wild horses. The
specimens on which he exerted his talents
as tanner were for the most part former
" domesticated animals, who had forgotten
all about their restraints while wandering
over the plains Of our southwestern terri
tory.
Travellers in western territories are no
longer in danger Of such an eruption OF I
horsefesh as Murray described in his
Travels in North America" He not only
witnessed stampede Of thousands OF
panic stricken horses, but the living tor
'ent swept along toward and over his
amp trampling skins and dried meat into
he ground, knocking down some of the
ents and taking with them all its horses /
Except his riding mare, who vHinly strug
lied TO break her fastenings They still
ange in much smaller herds than former
oA uAAS pitAAA4o VI Tue upper 0olOlaQO. Dut /.
he wild horse, like the buffalo, has prac d
ieally disappeared before the advance of e.
he white man. G
In spite of the experience of the Austral
ans, many peoples, chiefly savage. have o
cen able to turn the wild horse to good o
count Hundreds of thousands of Mexi
an mustangs have been reduced to servi
lde. The wild horse of the South Ameri
IN pampas, which three centuries ago d
My fifteen years after the horse was intro
uced from Europe, had spread to regions
) remote as Patagonia, has been tanned by
lOusands and has become the useful serv
lt Of Indian tribes. e
Naturalists often discuss the question I&
hatt5hffgi tIfera IS now in the wo-----.t,s,ssT1
reature as an $ao5iginal ore Wild q,
orse. We know very wei That the wild p
orses Of the western hemisphere are all =
Of domesticated animals.
here, then, is the aboriginal wild horse D.
be found? The question will probably
'ver be settled. Mr.. J. II. Steel thinks A
e evidence is in favor Of the existence OF
e wild horse in central Asia. GesneF, the -.
eat authority on zoology Of the Sixteenth F"
injury, was Of the same opinion, but the
ct haa often been questioned and the
sertiOn cannot positively be made that
e wild horse Of the great mountair on
gion which the Russians are now ex DR.
)rlng, aud OF which they have secured of
ne specimens, is not himself the dc id,
,ndant Of ancient domestic animals ga
ldthwaite's Geographical Magazine dis