LET 'ER BUCK 



most often echoes across the arena. It is particularly 

 in point when you see an "outlaw" horse displaying 

 every ounce of strength, cleverness, and viciousness to 

 unseat his rider, and the rider displaying every art 

 known to horsemanship in his efforts to stay on — and 

 in most cases staying on. Yet even the fearless char- 

 acter and ability of the riders fail in many hotly 

 contested fights. There are horses and men new to 

 Pendleton. The latter evidently have aspirations, some 

 of which are of short duration. 



It is astonishing though, how in the excitement of 

 the fight the human mind often loses all sense of time. 

 One visiting lady from the Sunny South related after 

 the show that the man rode for ten or fifteen minutes. 

 Undoubtedly some felt that way afterwards. But even 

 in the grandstand among the experts, old-timers and 

 judges, claims and bets were made on time as high as 

 two and three minutes. As a result of this discussion 

 Judge Charles Marsh, the Round-Up secretary had 

 the timers record kept showing the time each rider 

 rode, from when the gun was fired until the horse 

 was taken up, including the buck and run, dur- 

 ing the Nineteen Seventeen Round-Up. They found 

 that the maximum time of any ride was only thirty 

 seconds. The result of this record is interesting — 

 here it is at the back of this volume; it is called "The 

 Bucking-Time Table," there is also "The Rode and 

 Thrown Table" and "The Buckers' Own Table," but 

 glance over them later, for the buckers are being 

 placed in position by the wranglers. 



Most riders give exhibitions which last less than 

 thirty seconds, and some of the best buckers will un- 

 load their riders in twenty seconds or not at all. The 

 judges often smile tolerantly at a show bucker, and 



194 



