The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-06-03
PERVERTED APPETITE
OF SOME HORSES
One Ate Raw Beef, Anothe,
Garbage, While e Third
Chewed Tobacco.
a TROOPERS EXPERIENCE
During His Long Service in the Reg,
ular Army He Has Run Across
Some Queer Freaks in the
Equine Race.

Forest and Stream: MIR. Hardy gave
an instance of q horse which ate cook
ed beef. l ave in mind some three
different horses which ma be said to
have had a perverted appetite. one, a
sfnal half-bred Texan, would eat u
fresh piece of beef as large as a dinner
plate and AN inch thick. He ate it just
as a dog would, holding 1t down with
his forefoot, then tearing off chunks OF
1t and swallowing them. This horse,
which | had for a few months, appe-
lite for fresh beef was so Well known
that none Of it was aver left within
his reach except by accident. When
it was. whoe, ar left it never saw it
again. The troop that l first served in
had a horse that died in it when he was
twenty-three years old. Seventeen of
those years he had put in with the
troop, fifteen of them under the saddle.
He had been shot several times. once
I through the neck and one in rhe flank,
but neither shot had sent him to the
rear. He never had been sick a day.
Survived Custer Massacre.
The last two years of his life he spent
on the retired list. but was still marked
Mt for duty In order to keep him there;
any other horse would have been con-
demned and shot; but he was kept as
a matter Of sentiment and had MOTH
ing to DO but eat and sleep. The only
SAA AASi lA1tl 1 CNC i " De.
treated this way was the one which
survived the Custer massacre; he was
kept In a troop of the Seventh cavalry
until he died. He was saddled up and
led out In every mounted inspection,
but was never ridden by my one.
This old horse OF ours 1--WE called him
Bummer) was never tied in the day
time. but let go where he pleased. He
paid regular visits to the cookhouse;
there, getting his head In the slop bar
rel, he would half empty the barrel.
1t did not seem to make any difference
to him what he found there-bean soup,
stale bread. cooked meat or potato ar
ings-all went. He did not need the
stuff; he got just what the other horses
got to eat twice a day.
Mares Seldom Used.
Soon after the close of the war we,
were ~dismounted at Macon, Ga, and
sent to Texas. Here we got the old
horses that the Eighteenth New York
had been riding, n I kept a lookout
for q sorrel, but the best l could get
was a small sorrel mare. Mares are
never used in time of peace, but for the
last four years before this anything
that could carry a saddle would be
used. We had three of these mares by
he time we were all mounted. They
had been "cap.ured' down south; none
Of them had been bought. My mare
JUST Sdlleu me, she COulQ carry me nifty
miles a day. then carry me back again
next day if 1 wanted her to do it. I
had her about two days when 1 found
out that she chewed tobacco. h
grabbed a small package of finecut out
Of my hand, and hen stood chewing 1t,
paper and all. Seeing that it lid not
hurt her. I kept her in tobacco, buying
the leaf tobacco that all these Mexican
stores sold here then, q large hand"
Of 1t for a silver dime: that would not
have paid the duty on it had any been
paid. but the collector had not got here
yet. When he did come these men had
to stop selling 1t at any price. I never
went near my mare without giving her
tobacco. II she did not get it right
away she would begin showing me with
her nose and keep it up until l gave her
the usual chew. When we were or
dered to turn in our mares a few
months after this I parted with her
with more regret thar l have since felt
in parting with a better horse than she
was.
1 rode a horse for four years. my race
horse Charley, which would eat half a
peck of peaches as fast as l could re-
move the stones out of them. The
same horse could eat a pound of sugar
or CANDY without oven stopnioo