Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/228

ENGIilSH STATDTJSS ABOU:? . HOBSBS. 215 'fiol2s found in the foTcsts; cnases and camTfKfiis" anafl be 'driven,' and any found not growing into servicear We animaJa shall be Wiled. " Further the horse book says: "In AustraJia as well as America, horses im- ported by European settlers haye escaped into the unreclaimed lands, . and multiplied to a prodijgions extent, roaming in vast herds over the plains where no hocfcd a,rLiiaal trod, before."*.. Have we, not. ten years ago knovvn of the ranga horses of Dakota, Wy- oming and Nevada becoming so numerous that the stockmen were compelled to t&ka their Winchester rifles and exterminate them? This was because they f.r2 so hard to break to ride or work that it did not pay to bother with them, especially when horses were cheo-r; of course, when the range horse brings a good figure, then many of them are sold, and after being conquered and broke they are the toughest class of horses, especially for riding or driving. The day is not far distant when the range pony and horse will be' known no more, and that some record may be kept of the peculiar characteristics of these monarchs of the rans'e. An incident, the truth of which can be vouched for, came about under the following circumstances: A. ranchman who handled considerable cattle and who had four strapping grown sons, averaging from eishtcen to twenty-eight years of age, ha,d one day some men bring into the neighborhood of the ranch a drove of western horses, offering them for $15.00 to $50.00 each. The four farmer boys bought one each for cattle ponies (they are unescslled); they were roped; 1. e., lassoed and halter.:; gotten on them, and now the sturdy young feUows, '..ere quite conceited