The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1894-07-12
TOUGH POLO PONIES.
How the Hardy Animals Fare Among
CoIOTados Foothills,
Their Wonderful Transformation When Fitted for Appula
By Fashions OeUGs


brown foothills of Colorado, for it is high
noon, and the month is August.
pony mare, dun in color and only Just
IA hands in height, is moving about I'M
easily. evidently weary, anxious and watch
full Her coat is rough, her ribs show
gauntly, and her Loofs are innocent of
shoes. Altogether the little mare is not an
attractive animal, yet were a horseman to
pass by and cast, as he undoubtedly would,
a second glance at the pony, he would be
sure to see some rare good points in her
makeup.
She has a good, intelligent head, fair
shoulders, II 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 it
might be difficult to prove it, 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 7O's.
The air is growing hotter each minute.
Far as the eye can reach is the same sun
baked, rolling expanse of dried buffalo
grass The mare moves toward stunted
patch of sage bush scrub, and in IA second
d Va,
scarcely more than few hours old, is lying
painting in the shade. She dares not 90
very far away, for the lean wolf and hungry
coyote would soon make short work of her
offspring did they not know that a kick
from even an unshod hoof will pulverze the
stoutest wolf that ever prowled the plains.
The poor little immature thing would,
were it born in the east instead of in the
4 l,.. 4. t.,r
numerous stabemen, and its every want
would be supplied, but here, among the
foothills, it 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 tray
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 youugster, and as it comes gam
boiling up she starts in IL direction which
her instinct tells her will be bee line to
the nearest spring-a dirty, muddy pool,
rolled by cattle, and u favorite 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 it any wonder that the western pony il
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 a fOal.
In due season the foal becomes a colt and
is taken into the corals of the ranch to
which it belongs. Naturally docie though
spirited, it happily gets broken without be-
coming "measl," 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 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
The dun pony is now just years old, IA
hands high, and just the stamp to catch a
polo players eye. One fine day Getaway,
the noted horse dealer, comes along, on the
lookout for anything that will sell for a
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 them
rs rule, much to the bewilderment of the
COW punchers, who consider, and rightly
enough, too, that the mare is usually more
enduring, quicker and handler than the
horse or gelding.
Getaway notes the buckskin at a glance,
and although he is far too astute to let on
inwardly determines to have the little beg
gar Well he knows that he will be amply
able to give any sum likelyto be demanded
by the boss, and still make a handsome
profit on the transaction when he gets to
Newport.
The scene now shifts couple of thousand
miles to the eastward The dun was pur-
chased for $3.50. and it cost another $25 to
put him where he is-in u comfortable but
unpretentious stable in the rear of the
Ocean House. A probable purchaser is ex-
pected; the litter in the stall is changed,
the pony given final rundown, his tail has
been locked before starting for the east,
and in the sleek, neatly groomed little nag
no one would recognize the shaggy, ill kept
brute of two months before.
a dogcart stops at the stable door, dap
per groom jumps to the cobs head, and
Charley Heavyswell alghts to have look
at Getaways latest bit of equine perfec-
ton. OF all the swagger Newport men
Charley Heavyswell is by long odds the
most gorgeous. His appearance on this
fine June morning is thing of chastened
beauty, but to give him his due he also is a
most finished horseman and absolutely
fearless. No man in the country can "hus-
tie a sticker-a flier can spare"-quite so
well as Charley Heavyswel
He is languidly pleased at the dun pony
and directs that it be sent down to the polo
field about 3 p. m, so that he may have a
chance to throw leg over it before the
match begins.
The pony acquits himself so creditably
for green un that Getaway sets the price
at $3.50 and gets check for that amount
before the week is out-something that
does not always happen when Newport
man is the buyer, but Charley Heavyswell' s
pocketbook is a capacious one, and for Il
man who controls two or three railroads he
is uncommonly free with his money.
After this the dun pony's existence is like
that of hundreds of other western ponies
that have been brought east to play polo.
His counterparts may be seen three times a
week at Wenhan, bingham, Newport or
Rockaway. They are always good, hardy,
little beasts and rarely sick or sorry.-Bos-
ton Herald.
Things Would BE Different