HORSE EQUIPMENT FOR RANGE WORK 373 



lash rope and cinch, keeping the coil of the rope on his 

 side. He throws over the top of the pack a bight or loop 

 of the rv pe (Fig. 1), which the "near" man takes, places 

 the loop in the cinch hook which the "off" man pushes 

 to him under the animal's belly, and slips the hook far 

 enough under the animal so that when tight it will pull 

 up just below the lower edge of the pack. The "near" 

 man then shouts "take," and pulls on the running part 

 of the rope until the cinch is tight enough (Fig. 2.) The 

 "off" man takes the slack as it comes, passes the rope to 

 his left and the rear of the pack (Fig. 3) clear down un- 

 der the corners and well back, then across to the right 

 well under the pack, around and under the front corner, 

 and up again to the center and top of the pack. 



He holds this from slipping back by his right hand, 

 while with his left he slips a loop of the rope under the 

 rope that came over to him from the "near" side, push- 

 ing it under that rope from the rear as shown in Fig. 4. 

 This all takes place on top of the pack. 



Take the right hand side of this loop in the right hand, 

 and hold it from slipping back, while with the left hand 

 draw out more of the running end, making a much larger 

 loop (Fig. 5). Then work the lower end of this large 

 loop down along the main rope under the rear corner 

 of the pack, around towards the front until it is in the 

 center of the pack about where the cinch ring comes, 

 but still under the main rope (Fig. 6). Then tighten 

 the rope by pulling on the part in your right hand (Fig. 

 6). Pull it forward in line with the animal's backbone, 

 never out to one side. This is an invariable rule in good 

 packing; pull in line with the animal, never sideways. 



This should bring the "twist" of the lash rope about 

 in the center and somewhat on the side of the pack; 



