ISO THE COWBOY 



him homeward unless he became dead drunk 

 and fell off. The pony went to camp anyway, 

 to get himself unsaddled and join the herd. 

 Sometimes the puncher didn't even get drunk, 

 being broke, or in love, but that made no 

 difference to his meticulous neglect of the 

 whole practice of horsemastership as explained 

 in books. 



And the ponies prospered, usually fat as 

 butter because they lived a perfectly natural 

 hfe. 



The Ranche Hand as Horseman. Nobody 

 taught the budding cowboy any art of riding. 

 It was merely a habit. When the saddle 

 taught him to sit well down and ride straight 

 leg he ceased to tumble off. When he left off 

 interfering with the rein the horse steered clear 

 of holes, and there were neither stumbles nor 

 falls. 



From camp gossip he knew that a horse can- 

 not buck if one keeps his head up. If the 

 novice did amiss the foreman or some elder 

 cowhand advised him. The pride of a great 

 calhng made him a stickler for exquisite form 

 in riding, and the emulation to beat rival 

 outfits imposed on each a high standard of 

 efficiency. The work w^as usually done at a 

 canter to allow of the lightning swiftness in 



