The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-11-04
TOUGH POLO PONY.
HOW THE HARDY ANIMAL FARES
AMONG coLoRApo,s FOOTHILLS.

Brute Is Fitted Fur Approval By Now
ports Heavy sweIis.
The sun is beating pitilessly down on the
brown foothills Of Colorado. for 1t Is high
noon, and the month il August.
A pony mare, dun in color and only Just
IA hands in height, is moving about un-
easily, evidently weary, anxious aud watch
full. Her coat is rough, her ribs show
gauntly, and her hoofs are innocent Of
shoes. Altogether the little mare is not nn
attractive animal, yet were horseman to
pass by and cast, as he undoubtedly would,
q second glance at the pony, he would be
sure TO see Some rare good points In her
makeup.
She has q good. intelligent head, fair
shoulders, a roomy middle piece and most
excellent legs-hard, clean and without the
least sign Of splint or SPAWN. Her mean
est point is poor quarter. She is also
somewhat goose rumped. Although 1t
might be difficult to prove II, for stud books
are not kept very carefully on the ranches,
she has a drop Of the desert blood, her
grandsire being half bred. imported by an
English ranchman somewhere in the 70's.
The air Is growing hotter each minute.
Far as the eyscan reach Ia the came sun
baked, rolling expanse Of dried buffalo
grass The mare moves toward stunted
patch of sage bush scrub, and in a second
or two has come to where o little foal,
scarcely more than a few hours old, il lying
painting In the shade. She dares not 20
very far away, for the lean wolf and hungry
coyote would soon make short work Of her
offspring did they not know that kick
from even IN unshod hoof will pulverize the
stoutest wolf that ever prowled the plains.
| The poor little immature thing would,
were il born In the east instead Of In the
west be the object Of tender solicitude to
numerous stablemen, and its every want
would BIO supplied, but here, among the
foothills, 1t will have to be built Of pretty
good timber to stand the strain of exist
ence. The nearest water is five miles away,
and yet that distance will have to be trav-
ersed every time the dam has to drink, and
| even now she cannot resist the temptation
much longer.
With low whinny the gentle creature
calls the youngster, and as it comes gam
boiling up she starts in direction which
her instinct tells her will be a bee line to
the nearest spring-a dirty. muddy pool,
rolled by cattle, and fayorite haunt Of the
hungry coyote.
The mare and foal reach their destination
in safety, and each day the same dreary
path has to be traversed and retraversed.
Is 1t any wonder that the western pony is
tough and enduring' Muscles of steel and
bones of iron. When in after life the gal.
liant little beast has to carry heavy foot
rider in some cup match at Newport, Cedar.
hurst or Wenham, it is mere child's play
compared with the daily struggle for ex.
istence when foal
| In due season the foal becomes a colt and
is taken into the corals of the ranch to
which it belongs, Naturally docile, though
spirited, 1t happily gets broken without be.
coming mean" though, seeing that Sin
gleshot Mike did the breaking after his
usual rough and ready fashion, this is some
thing to be wondered at
Ridden at the annual roundup, and also
at the usual routine work OF the ranch By
one of the boys the dun colt, or as it is now
called, buckskin, eventually becomes one
of the handiest ponies owned by the'outfit
and being naturally gifted with a very fair
turn of speed, owing to the diluted but
still potent drop of desert blood inherited
from the imported great-grandsire, finally
attracts the attention of the boss and be
comes his own especial favorite mount
I Ahp hhh bph1 40 huH Jucb 1ChIh Olut Al
hands high, and just the stamp to catch q
polo players eye One fine day Cutaway
the noted horse dealer, comes along, on the
lookout for anything that will sell for O
good price at Newport. He has an almost
unlimited order for really good geldings
but cannot sell more than half dozen
mares during the season, as the eastern
players will have nothing to do with then
as rule, much to the bewilderment of th,
COW punchers who consider, and rightly
enough, too, that the mare is usually more
enduring, quicker and handler than the
horse or gelding.
! Cutaway notes the buckskin at glance
and although he is far too astute to let OIL
iinwardly determines to have the little beg
gar Well he knows that he will be amp.
able TO give any sum likelyto be demanded
by the boss, and still make handsome
profit on the transaction when he gets tS
Newport. .=
The scene now shifts couple of Thousand
miles to the eastward. The dun was pur
chased for $3.50. and it cost another SIS Il
put him where he is-in comfortable bu
unpretentious stable in the rear of tn
Ocean House. A probable purchaser is ex
pected; the litter in the stall is changed
the pony given a final rundown, his tail ha
been docked before starting for the east
and in the sleek, neatly groomed little ma
no one would recognize the shaggy, i'll KEEP
brute Of two months before.
A dogcart stops at the stable door, DAP
per groom jumps to the cob's head, an
Charley Heayyswell alights to have a loo
3 at Getaways latest bit Of equine perfet
ton. or all the swagger Newport me
= Charley Heayyswell is by long odds th
most gorgeous. His appearance on thi
fine June morning is thing of chastene
? beauty, but TO give him his due he also is
most finished horseman and absolutel
9 fearless. No man in the country can "hus
: tie a sticker-a 1lier can spare''-quite Z
d well as Charley Heavyswell.
: He is languidly pleased at the dun pom
t and directs that it be sent down to the POI
!, field about p. M, SO that he may have
u chance TO throw leg over it before Il
- match begins.
The pony acquits himself so creditab
for green un that Getaway sets the prit
at $3.50 and gets check for that amoul
II before the week is out-somethinR Thu
e does not always happen when "a Newpo
is man is the buyer, but Charley Heavyswell
n pocketbook is capacious one and for
II man who controls two or three railroads
"a is uncommohly free with his money.
After this the dun pony Is existence is Ill
that OF hundreds OF other western POM
- that have been brought east to play pol
~ His counterparts may be seen three times
rs week at Wenhan, bingham, Newport
n, Rockaway. They are always good, hard
~ little beasts and rarely sick or sorry.-BC
ton Herald.
= Initiative Forms In Flowers.
- Those who h. e given any particular
u tentiou to the S, 2dy Of botanical odditi