The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-09-27

sand Dollar Mare From EngIand- Ranch Stock Rules the Market.
 There are some disgruntled polo players who hold that the green ponies brought on from the West are held at prices above their real value, in view of ! the cheap rate at which the stock may i be gathered up at the ranches. In the
 rest between periods at a recent polo
 match there was a lively debate on the i question, pro and con, and one player | told this story to prove that suitable mounts are still a drug in parts of the i West
 Southern Nevada is the feeding ground of wild horses in the spring, ! and as late as in June a herd of them attacked a wagon train. There were two trains laden with ore for shipment at the Tonopah Railroad station, and ! pulled by sixteen horses. The attack
 came when the wagons were in a des- ert, thirty miles out from the mines. While preparations were being made to camp in the evening band numbering 200 horses and headed by a massive black stallion, charged the campers.
 But for being securely tethered. the train horses would have been stam- peded. The driver stopped the rush by shooting into the herd, killing one or two of the wild horses. Another con- voy was attacked two days later and
 two of the train horses were killed. After that the mine superintendent
 sent four well-armed guards with each
 train, whose sole duty was to stall off
 the attacks from wild horses. Now, why couldn't these wild broncos be
 rounded up and brought to the East for training?"
 Nothing in it, replied an older hand in the game. "In the first place it would cost too much to bell the cat wild horses are not sheep, to be rounded up with collie dogs, and not one in twenty of them could ever be trained for polo if it were possible to ship on a
 drove. Fifteen years ago droves of wild ponies were often auctioned off at
 Weehawken and other railroad termi- nals about New York, but I never
 heard of one amounting to anything at polo. They were knocked down at $25 to $50 each and fought the buyers
 with the fury of catamounts, Let the ranchers do the training, say I, and
 tack the cost on the price,
 The spokeslnen represent two classes | to be met with on every polo field. One set believe that good ponies may be bought for a song in the West, the sec- ond class that it is best to pay fair price for well-broken pony Lieuten- ant Colonel Treat, U. s. A., who takes
 keen interest in polo and knows the West thoroughly, believes that East Ierners are asked too much for. ponies.
 He says that good enough ponies for
 any one may still be. bought on the
 ranches for less than S100. This con- ceded, to bring them on in carload lots l from Montana, Wyoming or Texas, will add $25 or $50 to the first cost, which would make the value landed here un- der S150 A dealer who does not get this much for his poorest ponies now adays feels that he has been robbed.
 They expect from $500 to $500 for the ponies in each shipment and bring on
 two carload lots at time.
 A good COW pony, of the sort used in cutting out, is worth $150 at least
 on the ranch and the dealer is justified
 in asking a long price for one landed at
 Meadow Brook or Myopia.
 Racing ponies, too, are worth good
 money, West or East. The best ponies
 are now sorted out as three or four year olds and handled for a couple of
 seasons on the polo ranches. There are c1XKyaSyc Sske
 in at the ranches each fall or early spring and to pay top notch sums for
 the pick of the bunch. Such ponies are good vaule. no doubt, at $1 ,000 a head.
 but it is seldom any of them earn dis tinction in the game. This is also true
 of their millionaire owners, so it all
 comes out right. A Texan or Wyoming
 pony is well, grounded at the polo
 ranches in turning, ending and stop- ping, While they are also made wise to
 the mallet and ball in rough and ready
 polo matches. They seldom know a
 currycomb and brush until the final
 sprucing up for the trip East, where
 they arrive ready and willing to become
 aids in the game for whoever buys
 them. About $400 would seem a fair
 price for such a pony, and a carload lot of eighteen will average that sum if in good hands. The pick may ring s1, 1,OO0,
 but the tailenders will pull down the
 average. The best known dealers often
 have their stock pretty well placed be- fore getting off the cars. One last
 spring sold three carload lots in three days on Long Island, and then back to the West for him until next spring.
 Polo ponies improve in the strings of good players and will last four to six seasons of tournament matches, bar accidents, and after theeir prime are
 still 'serviceable for practise games or as a change to rest the clinkers when a team is winning easily. To be worked and exercised regularly in the mornings is one of the secrets of pro- longing pony's usefulness. When so much enjoyment is to be had from a pony it is not odd that whatever the first cost which, as in all horse pur- chases, is a hazard, a player will not readily part from a good one unless at a high price. At auction in this city last year the seasoned ponies E. w. and Rowdy brought $500 and $500, and when the late John A, Logan, Jr..
 sold string of six at auction here ten