The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1915-10-14


European war have been bought in
nearly every State in the Union, the
West is The favorite field of the buy
ers, according to member of one
of the largest firms buying war hors-
es in the United States.
There is reason for this beyond
sentiment" he said. when the
first Anglo Saxon pioneers crossed
ths plains and came into the region
that now forms our Western States,
they encountered great bands of wild
ponies. These were hardy little fell
lows weighing 700 pounds. At first
they were not appreciated by the set
tiers, but it was discovered later
difficult TO find in the horse of high
breeding. Among these qualities are
endurance and ineffective qualities
essential to a good war horse"
Admitting this I asked, why
should this make the Western horse
of today better for war purposes than
the Eastern horse OF the same breed,
admitting as you must that there
are now but few Of these wild bands
in the West, and that the horses you
are buying are horses of grade stock
weighing about 1900 pounds
Although, as You say, there are
few OF these wild bands on your
ranges today, the horses that I have
bought and the horses shall buy. in
fact every grade horse around here
has more or less Of this wild blood in
his veins. This is because the early
settlers found the wild ponies serv-
iceable and, later needing a horse of
larger type, brought in stations that
they crossed with the native mares.
day a distinct breed of horse, inter-
mediate between the cayuse pony
and the standard types. The horse
we find giving us the best returns
from abroad is the one having more
or less draft blood and liberal
amount of native blood mixed. This
type Of horse has made our firm IA
nous abroad, for the spirit and en-
durance of an animal of this kind Is
surprising"
had known that the cayuse pony
was tough az a burro, and spirited
as a racer, but I had never thought
of him as contributing to the popu-
larity of the horses OF today. 1t has
not been so long ago that these lit
tie fellows could be found in vast
bands running across the deserts of
the Great Basin. Wilder than deer,
they took to flight on the first APP
proach of a human being Or other
strange object and soon all signs of
them to be seen would be vast,
rapidly vanishing cloud Of dust.
Border Horses Drank at Dusk
Living On the border OF one OF
these deserts as a. boy, remember
seeing them, far away In the dis
lance, come jogging down cautiously
to the watering place. The most
popular time for them to do this
seemed to be at early dusk and at
daybreak. After drinking, II not
disturbed. they would start on their
return across the desert at first slow
ly. then one young stallion would
bite another, in play and soon the
whole band would go rushing madly
over the parched earth, raising a
cloud OF dust that enveloped them.
Near our home was a corral used
by the cowboys when they went out
to corral any of these wild ponies.
1t was post corral, being pickets
set In the ground, stump first, one
closely by the side Of the other. Tie
trees from which these pickets were
made averaged eight inches in diam.
eter at the base and tapered to
point about twelve feet from the
ground. or course they were not all
OF the same height, the result being
that a finished corral was a formid-
able pallisade, the top of which was
an irregular line OF pointed sticks.
1t was not unusual to see an animal
attempt to leap this fence after be-
ing corraled and failing, he transfix-
ed by one Of the pickets. There he
would hang, struggling to free aim.
self, tearing great wounds in his
sides, until bullet from cowboys
pistol would put en- end to his suf-
fering.
In corraling a band OF wild horses
the riders should be we'll mounted, |
and stationed so as to form relays. |
When one rider is forced to fall be-
hind, for the endurance OF these lit.
tie fellows is marvellous, a fresh rid. |
nr can then continue the chase. The
ground over which the chase is made
Is always more or less rough. Prairie
dog villages are not to be selected |
as ideal places over which to ride