Written by an unknown Gazette reporter, "Santa Rosa County was once known as the home of some of the world's wildest horses. They roamed the hills and flat lands of the northern part of the county less than thirty years ago (1924). It was the government's battle against the "cattle tick" that brought an end to their freedom. Veterinary officers knowing that the horses were infected with the ticks figured the pests would never be wiped out until the horses were caught and "dipped" several times. This was the same treatment given to all the cattle in the area."
Cattle dipping had become a major effort to eradicate Texas tick fever from Florida’s cattle herds. "Cattle Fever Tick" is the common name for bovine babesiosis, a name related to the organisms that infect the red blood cells of cattle. It is their destruction of the red blood cells that results in anemia, fever and death. The fever is caused by parasites and spread by ticks. Since Florida's cattle ranged freely without fences, the government decreed that they must be "dipped" with a solution to kill the ticks. But ticks infect a variety of animals, both wild and domestic, including the wild horses. So, the Legislature passed a law in 1923 requiring every cattleman in the state to comply with a full tick eradication program, which included dipping cattle every two weeks.
The Gazette reporter continued, "But, the horses were small, wild and suspicious of both man and beast, were probably the offspring brought to this country by the Spaniards. They were at liberty and loving lot, mixing caution with nimbleness of hoof to preserve their freedom. The government in 1926 had spent several thousand dollars trying to capture and dip the last group of more than 150. Dr. J. V. Knapp, state veterinarian then in charge of the work described the job as "the most perplexing problem his men had struck during the tick eradication work in the county." "It is impossible for any of the riders to overtake the wild horses. They flee into the swamps and impenetrable undergrowth immediately upon being given chase," he related.
The horses, some claimed and some without even a claim of ownership, were often lean but always distrustful of man, increased in numbers gradually. Finally, nearly all of the horses were caught and "dipped" regularly to destroy the ticks. One group, a defiant remnant of the liberty loving herd, remained at large a while longer. It took the range riders and the government agents a long time to figure out ways to catch them. A few independent operators, encouraged by the profit motive, traded some of the horses to cotton farmers in South Alabama and in distant parts of west Florida. A prospective plow horse, even though unbroken, would easily sell for $100 to $150, each in the row cropping country at that time. That meant some quick profits for a few horse trading Santa Rosans. But it didn't turn out so well for the up country cotton farmers. The wild horses insisted on staying wild. They were about the wildest critters, in fact, that ever got pawned off in what previously had been "mule country."
