The Van Buren press., 1897-08-14
HUNTING WHO HORSES.
An Exhilarating sport Praetieed on
the Sayannas of south Carolina.

/ r OK hunting anu uCCI hunting ~
splendid sport, but if you wish 10 go
on a chase that will be most exhilarat-
| ing and at the same time test the met
tie and bottom of your horse and the
endurance of the rider TO a greater de-
gree than any other hunt | know OF,
| recommend the running down of wild
horses, or rather the attempt to do 1t,
because the best of riders on the best
Of mounts will not always be success
| full"
| The speaker was a man noted for his
horsemanship. In deer hunting he al
ways prefers going in the drive, which,
while giving fewer opportunities for
successful shooting, furnishes occa-
sions 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 it was
| known that his hunting had been con-
| fined to this state, he was asked:
eWhere did you ever run down wild
| horses?'
There are hundreds of them on sa-
yannas in middle Colleton," he replied.
THE section visited is about the angle
between the Edisto river and the Great
| Caw-Caw swamp. Here for miles on
miles the land lies as level as table,
the great opening broken only BY
small patches of brush with no large
timber. A peculiar watergrass has
possession of the land. 1t is short. but
very thick. and gives excellent pastur-
age and makes as fine turf to ride over
as there is on any steepleehase 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
man as rapidly as will a deer, but their
speed and endurance are much greater.
They are larger than Texas horses, be-
ing a cross on the famous Carolina
marsh 'tacky' and the Kentucky horse.
From their breeding and the manner of
their raising they are exceptionally
hardy and wiry.
Every spring the owners of the
| punches, wishing to catch the three
| year-olds to break and sell, organize a
horse hunt. to which the neighbors
with good horses for miles around are
| invited. Those are occasions for rival
riders and horses to decide who are en-
titled to the blue ribbons. Regulations
can be made and horses ridden to death.
It's not mile dash, you know, but
stern chase for a matter of 20, 30 or
| more miles-not all in the same direc-
ton, but back and forth or in circuits
of miles, as the leaders of the drove
fancy.
"None of the men thereabouts are
practiced in lasso throwing, as they do
not attempt it. The horses are simply
run until they are exhausted, when the
hunter or chaser gets alongside and
losses a rope around the neck of the
animal he selects.
"The best way to capture these
horses, and the plan most commonly
employed is to run the drove all one
afternoon and keep them going until
dark; then at day dawn, mounted on
fresh horses, to resume the chase. The
wild animals will be stiff from the run
of the previous day, and easily over
taken
81 have been several times invited to
join in the hunts, and never realized
what the sport was till had taste of
it. And your horses, too, seem to love
it, and as as anxious to test their speed
as when hounds, in full cry, bring a
deer flying by them. To hear the thun-
der of couple of hundred sets of hoofs
and the defiant neighing of the drove
as it dashes over a carpet as pretty and
green as a well-kept lawn, and to feel
a good horse under you trembling with
excitement and ambition is enough to
make one feel like riding.
"On two occasions we-about 20 of us
rode droves down in one day Know
ing about the course the horses would
take, one detachment took position
so as to intercept them after they haC
had hard run. In this way the fresh
horses were able to press them so hare
that they got blown and were easily
overtaken.
"These horses have probably as
much bottom as any wild horses in the
world - perhaps greater endurance
than those on the western plains years
ago. Few persons who have not con
sidered the matter understand how il
is possible to run down a wild, unen
numbered horse, when the ANNA
showing the greater endurance carries
a weight of perhaps $50 pounds. There
are two reasons, but the chief is the diff
} ference between grain and grass food
, the second is that the rider employs
judgment and saves his animal, while
the wild horse often wastes his
vtrength early in the race.
, "Of course, on my first visit into thai
: section | was not to be outdone by the
natives, although there were some ex
! 2ellent mounts there, but | was or
. Jack you've heard me speak of him
, and as they seemed to expect some
, thing of us, | let Jack out when the
first dash was made. | cannot say Just
, how long the race lasted, whether ter
| or fifty minutes, but il was the most
glorious run l was ever in, and when
, pulled up, the long lash of my PLATED
, buckskin whip was wrapped tightly
, about the neck of the horse that haC
been the leader of the drove.
Yes" he concluded, there are wild
horses in South Carolina, and running
them down is the most exhilaratine
sport ever enjoyed."-N. Y. Sun.
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