THE ROUND-UP 



49 



ingly we keep at a walk almost all day, and the riders, having nothing 

 else to do, assist the wranglers in driving the saddle-band, three or four 

 going in front, and others on the side, so that the horses shall keep on a 

 walk. There is always some trouble with the animals at the starting out, 

 as they are very fresh and are restive under the saddle. The herd 



is 



DRIVING TO THE ROUND-UP 



likely to stampede, and any beast that is frisky or vicious is sure to show 

 its worst side. To do really effective cow-work a pony should be well 

 broken ; but many even of the old ones have vicious traits, and almost 

 every man will have in his string one or two young horses, or broncos, 

 hardly broken at all. Thanks to the rough methods of breaking in 

 vogue on the plains many even of the so-called broken animals retain 

 always certain bad habits, the most common being that of bucking. Of 

 the sixty odd horses on my ranch all but half a dozen were broken by 

 ourselves ; and though my men are all good riders, yet a good rider is 

 not necessarily a good horse-breaker, and indeed it was an absolute 



