The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-06-11
Running Down Wild Horses.

From the ST. Louis Globe-DemOcrat.
FOX hunting and deer-hunting is
splendid sport, but if you wish to 90 on
chase that will be most exhilarating, and
at the same time test the mettle and bottom
Of your horse, and the endurance of the
rider to a greater degree than any other
hunt | know of, | recommend the running
down Of wild horses, or rather, the at
tempt to do it, because the best of riders
on the best mounts will not always be sue
cessful
The speaker was man noted for his
horsemanship. But as it was known that
his hunting had been confined to South
Carolina, he was asked with some sur
prise, where did you ever run down wild
horses? p
There are hundreds of them on the sd
vannas in Middle Colleton, he replied.
The section | visited is about the angle
between the Edisto river and the Great
CawCaw Swamp. Here, for miles on
miles, the land lies as level as Il table, the
great opening broken only by small patches
Of brush-no large timber. A peculiar
water grass has possession of the land. 1t
is short, but very thick, and, while giving
excellent pasturage, makes as fine turf to
ride over as there is on any steeplechase
course in the country. On these savan-
mas, he continued, ''there are punches of
hundreds of wild horses that have seen
neither stable nor paddock. They will fly
from Il man as rapidly as will a deer, but
their speed and endurance are much
greater. They are larger than Texan
horses, being Il cross of the famous Caro-
lima marsh 'tacky' and the Kentucky
horse From their breeding and 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 which are entitled to the blue rib
bons. Regulations can be made and
horses can be ridden to death It's not
mile dash, you know, but stern chase
for matter Of twenty, thirty CT 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 are prac-
ticed in o-throwing, so they do not at
tempt it. The horses are simply run until
they are exhausted, when the hunter or
chaser GETS alongside and tosses It 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
! Overtaken. | have been several times in
vited to join in the hunts, and never rea-
lized what the sport was till had Il taste
Of it. And your horses, too, seem to love
! it, and are as anxious to test their speed as
when hounds, in full cry, bring deer
flying by them. To hear the thunder of
couple of hundred sets of hoots, and the
defiant neighing as the drove dashes over
carpet as pretty and green as a well-kept
lawn, and to feel good horse under you
trembling with excitement and ambition, is
enough to make one feel like riding. On
| two occasions we-about twenty Of us
rode droves down in one day. Knowing
about the course the horses would take,
one detachment took position so as to in
tercept them after they had had hard
run In this way the fresh horses were
able to press them so hard that they got
blown, and were easily overtaken. These
horses have probably as much bottom as
any wild ones in the world-perhaps
greater endurance than those on the West
ern plains years ago. Few persons who
have not considered the matter understand
how it is possible to run down a Wild un-
encountered horse, when the animal show
ing the greater endurance carries a weight
of perhaps $50 pounds. There are two
reasons, but the chief is the difference be-
tween grain and grass food; the second is
that the rider employs Judgment and saves
his animal, while the wild horse often
wastes his strength early in the race