The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-02-01

Mr.. Hardy, in the current number,
under the caption of Cats Eating
Corn" gives an instance of a horse
which ate cooked beef. says a writer
in Forest and Stream. have in mind
some three different horses which may
be said to have had perverted appe-
tite. One, a small half-breed Texas
horse which l had for a few months.
would eat a fresh piece of beef as large
as dinner plate and an inch thick.
He ate 1t just as a dog would, holding
1t down with his forefoot, then tearing
off chunks of it and swallowing them
This appetite for fresh beef was SO
well known that none of it was ever
left within his reach except by acci-
dent. When it WAS, whoever left 1t
never saw it again. The troop that
/ first served in had horse that died
in it when he was % years old. Sew
enteen of those years he had been put
in with this troop, fifteen of them under
the saddle. He had been shot several
times, once through the neck and once
In the flank; but neither shot had sent
him to the rear. He never had been
sick a day.
The last two years of his life he spent
on the retired list, but was still marked
INT for duty in order to keep him there;
demned and sold; but he was kept as a
matter of sentiment. and had nothing
to do but eat and sleep. The only other
horse that 1 ever knew to be 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 any one.
II 4 fnurr tIAH
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
tc him what he found there-bean soup,
stale bread, cooked meat, or potato
parings-all went. He did not need the
stuff; he got just what the other horses
got to eat twice a day.
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, and kept a lookout
for sorrel. but the best 1 could get
was a small sorrel mare. Mares are
| never used in time of peace, but for
| the last four years before this any
thing that could carry a saddle would
be used. We had three of these mares
by the time we were all mounted. They
had been Captured down South; none
of them had been bought. My mare
just suited me: she could carry me
fifty miles a day; then carry me back
| again next day if 1 wanted her to do it.
1 had her about two days when l found
| out that she chewed tobacco. She
grabbed a small package of fine cut out
of my hand, and then stood chewing it,
paper and all. Seeing that it did not
hurt her, l kept her in tobacco, buying
the leaf tobacco that all the Mexican
stores sold here then. a large hand"
of it for silver dime: that would not
have paid the duty on it had any been
paid, but the collector had not got
there yet; when he did come these men
had to stop selling it at any price. /
never went near my mare without
bringing her tobacco: if she did not
get it right away she would begin to
shove me with her nose and keep it
up until l gave her the usual chew.
When we were ordered to turn in our
mares a fw months after this l parted
with her with more regret than 1 have
since felt when parting with a better
horse than she was.
I rode a horse for four years, my
race-horse Charley, which would eat
half a peck of peaches as fast as 1
could remove the stones out of them
The same horse could eat a pound of
sugar or candy without even stopping.