Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-04-26
RANGE HORSES
IN DEMAND !!AI!1
Good Times Coming For Mon
tana Breeders.
PRICES ARE IMPROVING
Miles City Correspondent Of Chicago
Record Summarizes the
Situation.
PRICES ARE IMPROVING

Every one knows that there Is more
in horses than there was a rev
year ago, and that the horse breeders on
the range are making money. but there
are doubtless few people who undefstano
how we'll the ranges are stocked. even
though the prices have been so low during
recent years as to lead many owners 10
kill off the animals in order TO save Tor
the cattle the grass they would have eat
en-, and. though no attention Whatever
has been paid them in the way of care
for a long time, still there are plenty OF
them. There are probably $4,000 head on
the ranges of Montana alone, and on
those of Wyoming are probably twice
that number says the Miles CITY, Mont,
Cor. Chicago Record.
These horses generally are just about
the kind that are in good demand nova
days. They are o ponies by any means.
but are good, big horses weighing IN
range condition all the way from LOO to
1900 pounds. SO that they meet the de-
mandf for good heavy chunks and drafts.
They are generally bred up from Clydes-
dale or Norman stock, and were 1t not for
their brands it would be difficult to tell
many of them from the big farm horse
bred in Missouri and Illinois.
This fortunate circumstance is with
out doubt due to the fact that IL years
ago, and when the "big" horse was in
highest favor on the markets, our horse
men out here stocked up their breeding
ranges with that class of animals, and
since then, though they have at times
been the least desirable of all kinds, there
has generally been such a gloomy pros
pect that very few men felt like buying
any new stock of different breed, and
those on hand were kept simply because
their owners did not feel like putting an
o%l~o, .1o11o, irtn tho business. Thew are
glad of 1t now, and their only regret is
that they have taken so little care of the
animals during the last four or hve years.
STYLES OF HORSES CHANGE
Perhaps this illustrates as we'll as n Y
thing could the uncertainties of the BUSH
ness, and it is as full of ups and w as
any that ever helped to make n break
fortunes. When the first horse ranches
| were established up here along the yell
| lowstone the demand was. generally
speaking. for a horse weighing in the
neighborhood of 900 pounds-somethlng
! for COW work on the newly opened cattle
ranges and for the eastern farmer trade,
which wanted that sized animal for light
work n driving. Hambletonians, Nor
gans and Copperbottoms We're brought in
and crossed with pony stock brought
from Canada and from the Southwest.
Barely had this sort of breeding got
under way when the demand in the east
was for a whole lot bigger and finer an
imals, while the COW men, on the other
hand, decided that smaller horses were
quicker and made better COW ponies:
Those breeders who were able shipped
out everything they had to the farming
states n held their herds there or high
priced pastures while they peddled them
out to whoever could be induced to buy.
Some times these deals never paid the
expenses of the trip, n the horses were
always sold at a sacrifice simply be-
cause no one wanted them. Finally,
when all this undesirable stuff had been
disposed of, many of the horsemen quit
the business, but the majority of them
raising animals for the home demand,
some for that in the east and a few for
both. Those who wanted to sell to the
COW men simply bought Indian stuff, Or
half a wagon DAD of red blankets and
red undershirts and went out trading
among the Nez Perces, who were glad
to give up whole strings of ponies for
their goods.
ANIMALS WE'RE OFTEN SHOT.
Those who aspired to market their an
imals in the states did not get off sc
cheaply. however, but had to a good
round sums for coaches, Cleveland bays
and the heavier class of Hambletonians
But the followers of each idea made
money, and plenty of 1t. for several
years. Then the cow men went back to
the idea of the bigger horse. and in the
east the farmers suddenly got the fever
of Clydes and Normans, and 1t took sew
eral years to clean up the range and get
started to meet the new demands. And
when that was done the horse in general
fell into bad favor n the market from
that time on until a year ago was al
Ways falling off, so hat the sight Of the
brutes provoked their owners, whC
would have shipped them out in order
to get the grass for cattle had they not
been afraid to run the risk of not find.
ing sale anywhere.
In some parts of the range men WHIT
had money to put in cattle shot theil
horses or drove them away off, while
others caught up their stations anG
shipped them away in order to stoI
breeding: no attention much was paic
them, but they kept on increasing veal
by year, and so little Interest was taker
that in many cases colts ran till they
were three years old before they were
claimed and branded Then a man could
come in here and get his choice out of {
herd Of 500 head for $25, and the owne
THE Submarine Gold