I once concluded that it would be good policy to buy a herd of untamed
bronchos and educate them for the circus business. Thereupon I hired a
young fellow named George Costello and sent him to Colorado, Texas and
New Mexico in search of handsome bronchos and Pintos, as this was the
same breed of horses that I first owned. They are certainly the wildest
and hardest to break, but with these untamed animals I concluded to
make a start. It was more difficult work to find exactly what I wanted
than we had hoped. Finally, at Pendleton, Oregon, we found a herd of
about 3,000 head that were white and spotted and belonged to a tribe of
Indians. We bought about forty of them and then shipped them to
Chicago, where we sold all but sixteen. We engaged a celebrated trainer
and built a training stable, where we watched them work.
The bronchos at first refused to take the food which we gave them, and
would blow the oats out of the trough; but hunger finally subdued them.
They were very curious, investigating everything around them, and it
did not take long to learn the customs of civilization. They not only
learned to eat tame hay, and whinny for their food, but each horse also
learned to know his own name and those of his companions. We would
place these horses in a row and call out the name of one of them. If he
did not immediately respond the other bronchos would bite him to remind
him that he should obey orders.
As is usual to a herd, this band of ponies looked to one of their
number as the leader. The leader's name was Duke, and when the herd was
turned loose in the yard for exercise Duke was evidently commander. In
my experience with these wild animals I became convinced that they had
different intonations to express different feelings--that they have a
language of their own. Their whinnys when happy, when frightened, when
angry and as a warning differed greatly, and by careful study could be
easily distinguished.