The Portland daily press., 1900-07-24
BAD TEMPERED RACING
HORSES.
Annoying Tricks of the Wicked Lud-
wig and the Vicious Don AIOnzO.
NEW York SUM-

including few anecdotes of that Hckle
old campaigner, Tea Tray. The third
sport remarked that no one had said any
thing about vicious racehorses and start
ed to tell of one or two he had known. in
his time.
Probably the ugliest racehorse that
ever lived, - he said, ''was Ludwig.
You will remember, OF course, the IA
NOUS duel between Ludwig and Dave
Gideon's Ramapo several years ago, in
which the animals came pretty near to
chewing each other to pieces. Well,
this Ludwig was the toughest animal
that ever saw. He would take a chance
at anything, and once he got a grip moth
ing but red-h0t iron would induce him
to let go. Down on the Long Branch
farm he was known as the man-eater,
a name which chung to him as long as
can remember. Ludwig, the man-eater,
became one Of the best known animals
in the country, and people interested in
hOrsefesh used to go down to Long
Branch to see him.
''Well, Gideon thought thatGLudwig
had earned such a reputation for himself
that he ought to have his picture painted.
So he sends for Henry Stull, the horse
painter, and gave him a commission to
go ahead. Stull went down to Long
Branch and into the stable. One of the
grooms told him to be careful or Ludwig
would bite him, but Stull said he
thought he could soothe the animal, and
proceeded to do it by the use Of soft
words, Ludwig meantime being in box
stall, with only his head extending from
the top. He could wag his head pretty
freely though, and StulI was trying to
make friends with him by patting his
nose and talking to him, Iattentions, by
the way, which Ludwig never objected
60, but which, at the same time, hadn' t
the effect of sweetening the vicious tenn
per in the least.
''Stull was in the middle of his hyp-
MOTTO act when Gideon walks in. He
spoke to Stull and the painter turned
around suddenly. Like a flash Ludwig
ducked his head and got tight grip on
the collar of Stull' S coat. Well, it was
the funniest thing that 1 ever saw.
There was Stul wriggling and yelling
and Gideon and the grooms convuIsed
with laughter. Old Ludwig never
moved, but just held on, and there was a
look of the most intense satisfaction in
his eyes. Every means of making the old
animal let go was futile. Every time he
was dubbed over the head he would draw
back into the stall, lifting Stull clean off
his feet. Then Stull would boiler to let
10 r. fill
minutes before it occurred to anybody to
inhibition the painters coat and let him
slip out of it. StulI couldn't do it him
self, for the pulling on his collar had
drawn his arms up, so that he cOuldn
use them at all A groom finally sneaked
up and unbut6Oned the coat, and then
when Ludwig WASH thinking anything
about 1t Stuu slipped out of the garment
You never saw such mad horse in
your life. He was smart enough to see
that a trick had been played on him, and
he snOrted and kicked and Weighed so
that for a,time it looked as though he
was going to break out of the stall and
eat a few of us up. At the same time
he thrashed StulIs Sunday coat around
at scandalOus rate. Once it caught on
a nail, and as Ludwig pulled back there
was rip that made the painter grOan.
| The horse knew that he had good thing
in that nail, for twice more he tossed the
coat so that it would catch on it and then
| hauled back suddenly, an expression of
fend1sh joy in his wicked eyes. When
the coat was mass of ribbons he dropped
it and withdrew into his stall. Gideon
gave Stull a coat to go home in, but the
picture Of Ludwig was never painted.
"Old Don AlOnzO was another vicious
animal, but he had streaks of good be-
havlOr during which he ran and won
many a race for the Dryers. 1 recall one
la, l.
| temper was sweet enough to start him
in race 1t was one Of the big spring
| handicapS, l forget which, and Patsy
Sheedy had the mount. According to
custom there was the usual parade of the
contestants past the grand stand before
going to the post. Coming out of the
| paddock the Don was as sweet as pie, but
once on the track he began his antics.
He kept swinging his head around to the
right and swapping at Sheedy's leg. Once
he almost got him and Sheedy was scared
to death. He belted the animal across
! the head q couple OF times With~&he butt
end of his whip and kept his right leg
back out Of reach of the big strong teeth
| of Don AlOnZO. Going down past the
grand stand, however, the Don made
sudden swing to the left and caught
Sheedy' boot by the rim. Then he
pulled back and ripped the boot from the
| top to the toe. Well, you never saw such
a mad boy as that jockey in your life.
He realized that he had been clean out
witted by a horse, and while the Don
was cOntentedly chewing the section of
his boot that he had ripped out Sheed Y
began larruping him over the head with
his whip. He had hit him about ten
times and the people in the grand stand
were Kissing him for bru tally when the
old dog made another sudden swing
around to the left, and catching the whip
in his mouth bit it off short not five
inches from the jockey S hand. There
was nothing for it but to dismount and
get boot and whip, which Sheedy did,
the other horses meantime waiting at the
post.
"All through that race the EDon
kept swinging his head around and try
ing to get grip on Sheedy's leg, and the
poor boy was so frightened that he could
scarcely speak when he dismounted. OF
course the Don wasn't anywhere in the
race. He was beaten by horses that he
could beat running backward at any
other time. Sheedy never rode the Don