Show un OPPOSES SLAUGHTER i MAJ BURKE FAVORS BREEDING OF WILD HORSES Friend of Buffalo Bill Believes Government Govern-ment Is Making Mistake In OrderIng Order-Ing Shooting of Nevada Herds Now YorleI see that the government govern-ment has instructed tho rangers out In Nevada to shoot all the wild horses In Lander county commented Maj Burke who say ho falsed Buffalo 1111 Col William F Cody and who claims to know moro about horses of the plains than any man in this cOlin try I believe that Is a mistake the major continued Out on the Tooly aba the Taqulma and the Koultor reserves re-serves It Is estimated that there are between 15000 nnd 20000 wild horses and thero is no doubt that they do lots of harm to tho forests and that they are a menace to herds of tamo horses but It Is safe to sny that thorn are some horses among those little wild follows that are worth saving for brooding purposes You take n herd of wellbroken horses and turn them loose where tho wild ponies can got to them and your broken horses will ho missing next morning No matter how tame n horse is ho becomes demoralized after ho has had a chat with ono of those shaggy little fellows who has never known tho touch of n mans hand The damage done to the vegetation and tho forestry by the wild ponies doesnt amount to much If they would just stop luring off tho manhandled horsos there wouldnt bo any kick from tho forestry commission Tho best horso I over saw In my I life was a wild stallion Ho roamed at the head of a herd out in Okla horn In tho early 80s Ho was snow white and thorn wasnt a horse that could hold a candle to him when we would got after tho herd and try to round them up Wo used to chase that stallion in relays following him about the plains for days Ho seemed never 10 tire anu no nan speou that no horso I have over seen could equal A coiiplo of years before tho open ing of Oklahoma territory some cow bos got together and determined to catch that stallion They chased him In relays for two days and then ho was as fresh as ho was when they started after him After tho first few hours the mares and colts wero all ex 1m listed with the exception of one lit tlo bay devil a yearling This colt ran with tho white horse and the re maikablo thing was that ho kept pace with him Ono of tho cowboys on a fresh pony got the old horse off his beaten path by a clever move and turned his head toward a ranch which was wired In Tho horse plunged against one of tho barbs and cut his throat as ho fell bleeding to death but game to the last The cowboy then roped the colt All of us agreed thai tho stal lion was n perfect piece of horseflesh nnd for a time wo were trying to have him stuffed and put on exhibition In San Francisco Some way the scheme foil through nnd I have always been sorry for so perfect a horse should have been preserved That cowboy made a fortuno out of that hay colt When the territory was opened by tho government two years later and thero was such a rush of sooners for desired land one piece of property In a valley about 75 miles from the start was particularly coveted cov-eted That bay pony had a race with about 100 other horses for the land but he won out easily Later this pony was bought by our aggregation nnd he was tho most sensible I sen-sible and tho fastest horse we ever owner rive or six years ago age began be-gan tolling on Oklahomathats what we called hlmanll ho was sold with a number of other horses that had out lived their usefulness to us A Jersey I City baker bought Oklahoma and the last we heard of him ho was drawing a delivery wagon through tho streets over there Ho was as good a dolly cry horse as he had been at punching cattle or making record long distance races racesThats Thats tho sort of horses that can I bo got from some of those 15000 or 20000 ponies that are to be shot out In Nevada Ill venture to say that half of those doomed little fellows would make better saddle horses than 50 per cent of the stltt kneed plugs that you see galloping about the parks They ore tougher and they ore gentler nnd when It comes to faithful ness a nntlvo born horse is not in It with thorn If the government would l appropri I atQ mone to breed from tho hest of these wild ponies our better breed of horses would he Improved In n few years Those ponies that aro to ho killed are us fast as thoroughbreds for a short distance and a heap faster for a long run they are as strong as mules and ns tough as leather It seems to me that Is what our native horses need and by cross Ing them with these ponies we can get It I |