The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-20
18th ST., bet. Union So. and 9Th Ave.
HUNTING WILD HORSES.
An ErhiIarntiug Sport Practised on the savan
mas or South Carolina.

COLUMBIA. 8. c., June Fox hunting and
deer hunting are splendid sport. but If you wish
to go on a cha Sc that will be most cxhilarating
and at the same time test the mottle and bottom
of your horse and the endurance OF the rider to
o greater degree than any other hunt ! know
of. I recommend the running down of wild
horses. or rather the attempt to do II. because
the best of riders on the best of mounts will not
always he successful"
The speaker was n man noted for his horse
manship. In deer hunting no always prefers
going in the drive, which, while giving fewer
opportunities for successful shooting, furnishes
occasion for expert riding. and he has many
times outrun a noble buck. turned him from his
course and back to the waiting ISLANDERS. But as
1t was known that his hunting had been con.
fined to this State, he was asked: Where did
you ever run down wild horses :"
There are hundreds OF them on savannas IN
middle Colleton.' he replied. THE section I
visited is about the angle between the Edisto
River and the Great Caw-Caw Swamp. Hore for
miles on miles the land lies as level as a table,
the great opening broken only by small patches
of brush with no large timber. Apeculiar water
grass has possession OF the land. 1t is short. but
very thick. and gives excellent pasturage and
makes as fine turf to ride over as there 10 on
any steeplechase course in the country. On
these savannas there are punches Of hundreds
of wild horses that have seen neither stable nor
paddock. They will fly from n man as rapidly
as will a deer. but their speed and endurance
are much greater. They are larger than Texan
no scs. being n cross on the famous Carolina
marsh 'tacky' and the Kentucky horse. From
their breeding and the manner Of their raising
they arc exceptionally hardy and why.
EVERY spring the owners OF the punches,
wishing to catch tho three-yenr-olds to break
La.. l,r-s a. -llzL Al
neighbors with good horses for miles around
are invited. Those are occasions for rival riders
and horses to decide who are entitled to tho
blue ribbons. Regulations can DO made and
horses can be ridden TO death. It's not n mile
dash, you know, but a stern chase for q matter
of twenty, thirty, or more miles-not all In the
same direction. but back and forth or In circuits
| of miles. as the leaders OF the drove fancy.
"None OF the men thereabouts arc p~ractiscd
in lasso throwing. as they do not attempt 1t.
| The horses arc simply run until they are ex-
hausted, when the hunter or chaser gets along
side and losses a rope around the neck OF the an
ina, he selects.
the plan most commonly employed IL to run the
drove all one afternoon and keep them going UNI
til dark; then at day dawn, MOUNTED on fresh
will be stiif from The run OF the previous day,
and easily overtaken.
81 have been several times invited to join In
the hunts. and never realized what tho sport
was till had a taste of it. And your horses, too.
seem 10 love II, and are as anxious to test their
speed as when hounds, in full cry. bring a deer
flying by them. To hear the thunder OF n
couple OF hundred sets Of hoofs and the defiant
neighing as the drove dashes over a carpet as
pretty and green as a well.kept lawn, and TO
Feel a good horse under you trembling with ex'
element and ambition Is enough TO make one
feel like riding.
ION two occasions we-about twenty of US
rode droves down In one day. Knowing about
the course the horses would take. one detach'
ment took a position so az to intercept them
after they had had u hard run. In this way the
fresh horses were Gblo to press them so hard
that they got blown and were easily oyertaken.
These horses have probably as much bottom
as any wild ones in the world-perhaps greater
endurance than those on the western plainl