( 270 )
A WILD HORSE.
WHILE residing at Henderson in Kentucky, I became acquainted
with a gentleman who had just returned from the country in the neighbourhood
of the head waters of the Arkansas River, where he had purchased
a newly caught " Wild Horse," a descendant of some of the horses
originally brought from Spain, and set at liberty in the vast prairies of
the Mexican lands. The animal Avas by no means handsome :—he had a
large head, with a considerable prominence in its frontal region, his thick
and unkemt mane hung along his neck to the breast, and his tail, too
scanty to be called flowing, almost reached the ground. But his chest
was broad, his legs clean and sinewy, and his eyes and nostrils indicated
spirit, vigour, and endurance. He had never been shod, and although he
had been ridden hard, and had performed a long journey, his black hoofs
had suffered no damage. His colour inclined to bay, the legs of a deeper
tint, and gradually darkening below until they became nearly black. I
inquired what might be the value of such an animal among the Osage
Indians, and "was answered, that the horse being only four years old, he
had given for him, with the tree and the buffalo tug fastened to his head,
articles equivalent to about thirty-five dollars. The gentleman added,
that he had never mounted a better horse, and had very little doubt, that
if well fed, he could carry a man of ordinary weight from thirty-five to
forty miles a-day, for a month, as he had travelled at that rate upon him,
without giving him any other food than the grass of the prairies, or the
canes of the bottom lands, until he had crossed the Mississippi at Natchez,
when he fed him with corn. Having no farther use for him, now that he
had ended his journey, he said he was anxious to sell him, and thought he
might prove a good hunting horse for me, as his gaits were easy, and he
stood fire as well as any charger he had seen. Having some need of a
horse possessed of qualities similar to those represented as belonging to
the one in question, I asked if I might be allowed to try him. " Try
him, Sir, and welcome; nay, if you will agree to feed him and take care
of him, you may keep him for a month, if you choose." So I had the
horse taken to the stable and fed.
About two hours afterwards, I took my gun, mounted the prairie
nag, and went to the woods. I was not long in finding him very sensible
A WILD HORSE. 271
to the spur, and as I observed that he moved with great ease both to
himself and his rider, I thought of leaping over a log several feet in diameter,
to judge how far he might prove serviceable in deer-driving or
bear-hunting. So I gave him the reins, and pressed my legs to his belly
without using the spur, on which, as if aware that I wished to try his
mettle, he bounded off and cleared the log as lightly as an elk. I turned
him, and made him leap the same log several times, which he did with equal
ease, so that I was satisfied of his ability to clear any impediment in the
woods. I next determined to try his strength, for which purpose I took him
to a swamp, which I knew was muddy and tough. He entered it with his
nose close to the water, as if to judge of its depth, at which I was well
pleased, as he thus evinced due caution. I then rode through the swamp
in different directions, and found him prompt, decided, and unflinching.
Can he swim well ? thought I;—for there are horses, which, although
excellent, cannot swim at all, but will now and then lie on their side, as
if contented to float with the current, when the rider must either swim
and drag them to the shore, or abandon them. To the Ohio then I went,
and rode into the water. He made off* obliquely against the current, his
head well raised above the surface, his nostrils expanded, his breathingfree,
and without any of the grunting noise emitted by many horses on
such occasions. I turned him down the stream, then directly against it,
and finding him quite to my mind, I returned to the shore, on reaching
which he stopped of his own accord, spread his legs, and almost shook
me off my seat. After this I put him to a gallop, and returning home
through the woods, shot from the saddle a turkey-cock, which he afterwards
approached as if he had been trained to the sport, and enabled me
to take it up without dismounting.
As soon as I reached the house of Dr RANKIN, where I then resided,
I sent word to the owner of the horse that I should be glad to see him.
When he came, I asked him what price he would take ; he said, fifty dollars
in silver was the lowest. So I paid the money, took a bill of sale,
and became master of the horse. The Doctor, who was an excellent judge,
said smiling to me, " Mr AUDUBON, when you are tired of him, I will refund
you the fifty dollars, for depend upon it he is a capital horse." The
mane was trimmed, but the tail left untouched ; the Doctor had him shod
" all round," and for several weeks he was ridden by my wife, who was
highly pleased with him.
Business requiring that I should go to Philadelphia, Barro (he was