The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1896-11-24
SOUTHERN HoRsEMEN.


Their Recklesaneaa ON Green Horses As-
toniahes Northern Hunters.
It III hard to fathom the spirit OF
recklessness that most sharply diff
ferentiates the southern hunter from
his northern brother and that runs
him amuck when he comes into con-
tact with a horse, whether riding,
driving or betting ON him. II thing
has to be done in a hunting field, or
can be done, there is little difference
between the two. Only the thing
must, with the northerner, be O
matter of skill and Judgment, and
he likes to know his horse. To him
or to an Englishman the southern
hunters performances on a green
horse look little short of criminal.
In certain counties of Virginia,
where hunters follow the hounds
after the English fashion, the main
point seems TO be for each man to
chang up the man behind him, and
desperate risks are run. Il have
stopped that boyish foolishness,
though" said an aged hunter under
80. II give my horse a chance. :" In
other words, he had stopped exact
ing of him the impossible. In Geor-
gia they follow hounds at a fast gal
lop through wooded bogs and
swamps at night, and ! have seen a
horse go down twice within dis
tance of 80 yards and the rider new
or leave his back. The same is true |
of Kentucky, and suppose of other
southern states.
have known one of my friends
in the Blue Grass to amuse himself |
by getting into his buggy an unsus-
pecting friend, who was as sedate |
then as he is now (and he is a judge |
now and driving him at full speed |
through an open gate, then whizzing
through the woods and seeing how
near he could Craze the trunks of
trees in his course and how sharply
he could turn, and ending up the
circuit by dashing, still at full
speed, into a creek, his companion
sti1l sedate and fearless, but swear.
ing helplessly. Being bantered by an
equally reckless friend one dark
midnight while going home, this
same man threw both reins out on
his horses back and gave the high
strung beast smart cut with his
whip. He ran four miles, kept the
pike by some mercy of Providence
and stopped exhausted at his mas
ter's gate.
A northern visitor was irritated
by the apparently reckless driving
of his host, who is famous horse
man in the Blue Grass.
"You lunatic," he said, you'd
better drive over those stone piles, "
meaning heap of unbroken rocks
that lay on one side of the turnpike.
Il will, was the grave answer,
and he did.
This is the Kentuckian in buggy.
Imagine him on horseback, with
no ladies present TO check the spirit
or the spirits of the occasion, and
we can believe that the Thanksgiv-
ing hunt of the Iroquois club is per-
haps a little more serious business
than playing polo or riding after
aniseed. And yet there is hardly q
member of this club who could sit
in his saddle over the course at
Meadowbrook or Chevy Chase, for
the reason that he has never prac-
tioed jumping q horse in his stride,
and because when he goes fast he
takes the jockey seat, which is not,
believe, a good seat for five foot
fence. At the same time there is
hardly country bred rider in the
Blue Grass, man or woman, who
would not try it. Still, accidents are
rare, and it is yet a tenet in the
creed of the southern hunter that
the safer plan is to take no care. On
the chase with greyhounds the dogs
run, of course, by sight, and the
point with the huntsman is to be
the first at the place of the kill. AS
the greyhound tosses the rabbit sew
eral feet in the air and catches it
when it falls, the place is seen by
all, and there is q mad rush for that
one spot The hunters crash hogeth-
or and often knock one another
down. I have known two fallen
horses and their riders to be cleared
in leap by two hunters who were
close behind them. One of the men
was struck by hoof flying over
him.
II saw shoe glisten, he said,
land then it was darkness for
awhile. John Fox, Jr., in Gen.
tury.