The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-09-05

Blossom, and the present owner, start
ed to round up this wild stock, and
turn them to some profit.
The work had been difficult in the
extreme owing to the character of
country, the resources of the horses
themselves and their great endurance.
The principal thing necessary is to
keep the horses on the run, giving
them no chance to rest, and finally
rounding them up when in an ex-
hausted state. The sight of man
! on horseback is frequently enough to
start wild band going for the entire
day.
Working upon the knowledge of
this fact, Mr.. Blossom last year tried
the device of mounting lot of dunn
mics upon captured horses and turn
ing them loose, counting upon fright
ening and exhausting the wild horses
that caught sight of them, and then
running them down with fresh ami
mails. The scheme was only partly
successful, owing to the fact, Mr..
Blossom believes, of his not being
able to get enough dummies in the
field.
The difficulties of the chase are en-
hanced by the fact that the quarry
has learned to post sentinels on the
lookout for danger. The country is
nearly all rolling, and the first sight
of a band is usually of one or two
lookouts posted on the crest of knoll,
plainly on the alert, although miles
away. On attempting to move near
er the entire band appears, and after
moments gaze at the intruders start
off on its "dirty trot," the stallion in
the rear. This trot is as deceptive as
the lazy lope of coyote. 1t looks
easy to overcome, but the pursurer
soon finds that it eats up the miles
with surprising rapidity, and that it
can be kept up all day and all night
if necessary.
When the band is met unexpected
ly the most exciting work occurs.
At close quarters the mustangs break
into a run and the race is to the swift.
Here, when there is no doubt that
each member of the band will strain
every nerve, the stallion takes the
lead and makes every effort to pilot
his family out of danger. But let the
rider succeed in getting among the
escaping horses, swing his RATA and
attempt to Class or "cut out" one
of the mares, and the stallion will
turn instantly and with mouth open,
teeth cleaning and name flying, rush
at the disturber of his family unity
with fury that is both fearless aud
terrible.
There may be no real danger of at
tack or injury in such case, but a
rush of the sort that I saw magni6-
cent bay stallion make at Bob Bios
som few weeks ago, when Bob tried
to cast his RATA around the neck of
the queen of the harem, looked like
az -s~f t1-s-5s al ---s<s an. s;s.stis
confusing to secure the band a fresh
start.
A wild stallion is a jealous guardian
of his host and will frequently turn
threateningly even when the pursuer
is couple of hundred yards away.
The captured wild horse is far from
being easy to handle, and his useful
ness as a saddle-horse is problemati-
cal. Under intelligent training at the
hands of a skilled rider they may be
made tractable, and their strength
and endurance make them valuable
animals, but one that has strain of
viciousness is tough proposition and
will warrant close watching.
A number of these horses were pur-
chased some time ago for the German
Army. It is safe wager that few
of Willie Hohenzollern's officers have
ere this had touch of the real thing
in the bucking line that would rival
an exhibit in a Wild West show.