Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-10-16
WESTERN WILD HORSES.

liShed as a matter OF public interest ana
value.
WESTERN WILD HORSES.
Two or three years ago the Iowa horse
raiser awoke to the fact that demand
had overtaken supply, owing to the de-
cline in breeding. and those who had
young horses coming on, and those who
had brood mares took heart and antici-
Hpated profitable market.
[ Just ct this tine a gang of speculat-
ors, taking advantage of the universal
demand for anything in the shape of a
horse, began to bring in the wild horse
OF the plains Thousands and thousands
of these wild horses have been gathered
up and shipped into Iowa and the neigh
boring states. The first cost was prac-
tically nothing, as the owners of these
herds of wild horses were only too glad
to get market for them at any price.
They had become a nuisance and if this
opportunity had not occurred we would
have no doubt read of just such horse
hunts as the news dispatches of the t.
r. gave last Friday concerning the
mustang hunt in Arizona, where hun
.dreds of these wild horses were rounded
up and driven over precipice to death
in order to clean out the ranges of grass
caters that were of no utility wkNtever
The first cost If these wild animals
was from 81 to S. a head. a gentleman
who reads the T.-R. was offered a herd
of 500 in Utah for 500, provided he
would agree to clean the range. An
other gentleman who reads the T.-R.
visited the Yellowstone Park this sum
mer and he took occasion to discuss the
horse question with the stage drivers
and other horselnen, and he learned
that those men were amazed that we
should buy these animals, on which they
place no value whatever. They do not
use them there at all. The Park Trans
poitatlon Company uses about 600
horses, all Montana bred, hardy. useful
horses, bred and raised. all of them. on
the ranches. not on the ranges. These
horses weigh from HOO to 1920, and can
not be bought there for less than $50.
The range horse is wild ANIMAL his
ancestors were wild. They are vicious
and dangerous. and it is a common
saying that "broncho" has to be bro
ken every time he is hitched. He de-
fen,ls himself by kicking, biting and
striking the moment ne gets into trou-
BILE; in the harness naturally he goes to
kicking.
The other day young farmer APP
pealed on the street with his arm in a
sling. He had been fooling with a
brorlcho. and the result was a broken
arm A neighbor of his had a broken
leg from the sam. cause. One OF the
finest young men in neighboring coun-
ty now lies at the point OF death-kicked
In the stomach BY a broncho. So the
record goes. When the value of the
lives lost is takel, into consideration
and the doctor bills, and the injury to
the legitimate horse industry. 1t will be
found that the farmers OF Iowa are pay,
ing dearly for their whistles.
The heavy horse still holds his own.
but the 1000 and 100 pound horse has
been deprecated at least s25 by bron-
cho competition.
Another peculiar feature about the
craze is. that men who buy them are
ashamed to admit 1t; they are ashamed
to admit they have them on their
farms; they do not buy them for
use, but to speculate on. the same as
the horse trader buys up old skins
and spawned plugs. Such business
naturally and very quickly fell into the
hands OF men wholly disreputable. They
ship them in and sell them for what
they will bring. They are covered with
car bruises. their heads are peeled,
they have the pfnk eye and within Q
week they develop distemper in the
most malignant form. These diseases
are scattered far and wide and work
incafculable HARM Often men lose good
horses by introducing disease among
them. Often wild horses - years old
are sold for 4-year-olds The fraud can
al is,
sold, roped and thrown. He is then the
property Of the victim and the seller
simply laughs at him for sucker. But
1t is n notorious fact that the same man
nevei. buys twice, and the good horse
man never buys at all. They have abb
solutely no value on any legitimate mar
iFet and the farmers of Iowa ought to
have sense enough to boycott the bust
ness and the interruptions men who
are engaged in selling them.
The country is full of them, but IL no
more are bought what we have will
soon break their necks, or be killed and
fed to the hogs.
Another fraud in connection with the
business ought to be spoken of. When
the reputation of the wild horse of
Montana, Idaho ami Oregon got so bad
that sales fell off, they were brought in
and sold as Dakota horses. Now every
intelligent man knows that neither of
the Lakotas is a horse country.
For 8 or years our buyers have been