The Opelousas courier., 1902-04-19
PONY TRAINED TO HUNT DEER.
Col. Dan Henderson, However, Said He
Was Used TO Ride Real Horses.

Col. Dan Henderson, However, Said Ha
Was Used to Rid Real Horses.
On last Friday, unlucky day, Col.
Dan Henderson received Geographic
advices from friends at Cleveland,
Tex, to join them in a deer hunt. Ii
there is anything the colonel enjoys
more than a county commissioners
meeting, it is a deer hunt, SO he &C
cepted the invitation and caught the
first train for Cleveland. He returned
a wiser, sadder and sorer man, ana III
consequence of his experience he pre-
fers standing while eating his meals.
He was met at the station at CleVe-
land by a party Of huntsmen, II
was given the best horse in the coun-
ty to ride, a regularly trained deer
hunter. 1t was a Texas pony, accus-
toned to high weeds, low trees, cut
ting branches, sharp and blunt tree
stumps, and the severest hardshlps
associated with chasing the feet-foot-
ed game. But the colonel had not
roughed it on horseback for many
moons, and was quite u%nprepared for
the wild ride through the thickets and
jungles in pursuit of deer. Hatuiy
had ne seated himself in the hard
saddle, with his tall, majestic form
towering away above the spirited
pony and his feet barely above ground
when the keeper of the hounds called
the hunt on. Acrosslshe prairie and
right into the heart ars.the dense
woods dashed the mounted huntsmen,
with Col. Henderson we'll to thetfront
He said he heard some n cry 1T
that a deer had been sighted, but he
was too much absorbed easing his
saddle and trying to steer his mount
from slamming him up against a tree
to watch the chase. 1t was one OF
those bucking, d~eer-loying broncos
that forgets ali about its rider when
a deer shows up. After peeling the
bark off several trees and kissing the
ground a half dozen times in his eff
forts to dodge enticing limbs, branches
and tangled moss Col. Henderson
thought that he understood his mount,
and prepared to call him down. Some
distance ahead an immense fallen oak
lay across the path of the hunters,
and the members ahead rode their
steeds we'll as the animals leaped over
the obstruction as though it were a
| fence rail-. Painfully conscious of the
high jumping and awful humping he
bod hnor c,hiaoSa1 tn cinnn 1naVino
the station, the colonel determined tc
stop his discourteous steed and make
him climb over the oak slowly and
with much grace. The bronco stopped
! as hidden, and his mount was in the
act of shaking hands with himself
when the trained brute made a le1I
and cleared the log about five feet
| When he landed on the other side the
| sportsman from Galveston hit the sad
| die as though he meant to break it
The upward flight was delightful
| brief as it was, but the cruel reseat-
ing was agonizing. Right then anc
there that bronco and the deer hunter
from Galveston parted. The pony
apologized and explained that he was
not responsible for the colonel's horse
manship, and the colonel sneeringlS
replied that he had been educated II
riding horses that are real horses AM
in saddles made for riders to sit il
and not be thrown out of every tw;
seconds. The next morning the colo
mel received a telephone message from
his colleagues who had stuck to th'
trail and followed the deer into tn
forest several miles, that a fine bucl
had been killed. But the evidence wa
sufficient, and the visiting sportsma!
came home for Observation-Disclosures
News.