PAG E 4
T H E C H E M A W A A M E R IC A N
AM ERICAN W ILD HORSES
W hen the S p an iard s cam e to A m erica they b ro u g h t
the first horses to the co n tin en t, says a w riter in O ur
Dumb A nim als. T h e anim als escaped and w ere left
behind by the S paniards to become the paren t stock of
fu tu re herds of wild horses th a t ranged th e plains
from Mexico to as far n o rth as Saskatchew an and
possibly fu rth er.
H orses from early A m erican settlers escaped tim e
to tim e or were ru n off by th e wild horse bands and
added to the blood. Indian trib es cau g h t them in
num bers and re-dom esticated them , using them as a
m eans of tran sp o rtatio n w hich they had never know n
before th e advent of the S paniards. Indeed, it was
the possession of horses th a t m ade the plains In d ian
tribes possible, and later m ade roam ing w arriors of
them , for they never traveled far before they had
horses.
Some tribes becam e horse breeders and tu rn ed out
fine stock; the C om anches of T ex as were alm ost like
A rabs in th is m atter, and th e C heyenne tribes of
W yom ing gained fame as p roducers of th e fam ous
“ p in to ” or “ p a in te d ” (sp o tte d ) horses of the plains.
B rands of wild horses could be found alm ost a n y
w here w here feed and w ater conditions w ere favorable,
as late as the 8()’s. T w o such bands ranged in the
sand hills of N ebraska betw een the P latte and N iobrara
rivers, the habitat of one band being aro u n d the head
of Dismal river and the ran g e of the o th er band being
along the L oup river.
W ild horse herds w ere alw ays led (an d strictly
herded into individual b an d s) by in d iv id u al stallions
who looked after their charges w ith alm ost hum an in
telligence, leading them to feed and w ater and g u a rd
ing them from d an g er of every sort. T h ese stallions
w ould fight each other and any wild enem y such as
the grizzly bear, w ith all the w ild ferocity of a tig er.
T hey would even attack man if he was afoot aird alone,
as many an Indiatr or w hite h o rse-h u n ter can te stify .
T h e tw o stallion leaders of these N ebraska sand-hill
herds were well know n u p and dow n th e plains for a
num ber of years and every device and plan was tried
to “ g e t” them . O ne was a coal-black tro tte r w ith
long sw eeping m ane and tail— as beautiful an anim al
as ever ran free under the sky. T h e o th er was a bay
pacer w ith cream m ane and tail th a t sw ept the ground
and gave him a com et-like appearance w hile ru n n in g
at full speed. Tw o finer horse never lived, I verily
believe.
In d ian s tried to “ walk them d o w n ” by k ee p in g
them m oving slowly all th e tim e, w ith o u t a chance
to feed or get to w ater, b u t th ey never could get
eith er one. Cow-men tried en circlin g th e herds and
“ ro p in g ” them m any tim es. T h is m ethod resulted
in th e cap tu re of the bay stallion on the head of the
M iddle L oup about 1885.
T h e black stallion was “ creased ” by a rifle shot
th ro u g h the top of the neck bv a single h u n te r who
th u s captured the big fellow a year or so after th e
bay was cau g h t. T h e black was cap tu red miles to the
n o rth w est of his old range in the sage brush desert of
W y o m ing after nearly all his band had been captured
by cow boys on reg u la r organized horse h u n ts th at
often resulted in the cap tu re of a w hole herd at once.
T h e horse was th e u nit of value in trade am ong all
th e plains Ind ian s; th e man who owned “ m any
h o rses” was rich— he who owned none was poor. A
wife was valued by a certain num ber of horses, the
m ore desirable the wife th e greater th e num ber of
horses she w ould b rin g to her father w hen m arriage
day came aro u n d . N ex t to the buffalo, the horse was
th e most valuable of all plains anim als to the In d ian
tribes.
In d ian s had alw ays used dogs for pack anim als up
to the tim e they got horses from th e increase of the
S panish herds, so it is only n atu ral perhaps to find
th e Sioux calling th e horse S h u n k sto n k a, literally
“ b ig -d o g ” because they could pack all their stuff on
his back ju s t as they alw ays had packed it for tra n s
p o rtatio n on dogs before.
T h e B lackfeet took a som ew hat d ifferent view of
th e anim al and called it P ono-kom -i-ta, w hich m eans
elk-dog or m ore nearly “ lik e-elk -lik e-d o g ,’’u n d o u b te d
ly th is nam e was selected because, in size, th e horse
w as “ lik e -th e -e lk ” but w ith o u t his big horns and, be
cause, th e y could pack th e ir belongings on the horse,
he was “ lik e -th e-d o g ” who had alw ays been their
pack anim al before. T herefore th e nam e “ elk -d o g ”
as above.
T h e Crow In d ian s who lived in th e Y ellow stone
riv er co untry called th e horse e-cheta. Ju st w hat th is
nam e m eans I never learned but it is likely som ew hat
sim ilar to the o thers.
T h e last w ild-horse herds th a t I know7 of were ra n g
in g in W ashington and O regon, but they were cap
tu red several years ago and as far as I know th e real
wild horse of the plains is gone forever now , th e
nearest approach today being the ranch horses w hich
still run th e open ran g e here and th ere.
F U N OF D E N T IST R Y
W ild and disheveled, w atery of eve and trem bling
of lim b, he b urst into the d e n tis t’s consulting-room
and addressed the d en tist in gasping tones:
Do you give gas here?’ ’
“ Y e s,” replied the d en tist.
“ Does it p u t a man to sleep?”
“ Of c o u rse .”
“ N o th in g would w ake him ?”
“ N o th in g . B u t—”
“ W ait a bit: you could break his jaw or black his
eye w ithout him feeling it?”
“ My dear sir, of course, I — ”
“ It lasts about half a m inute, d o e sn ’t it?”
“ Y e s.”
W ith a w’ild w’hoop of joy and relief the exciled
m an threw7 off his coat and w aistcoat.
“ N o w ,” he yelled, as he tu g g ed at his shirt, “ get
ver gas-engine ready. I w ant you to pull a porous-
p la s ttr off mv b a c k .”