THE-:- HORSE 



wild for a number of years at Stockdale, and 

 then several of them were broken by the cow- 

 boys on the ranch. I undertook the breaking 

 of one of these colts, and rode him two or 

 three times in a large corral. In order to 

 mount the horse it had to be thrown on the 

 ground and held. After several of these les- 

 sons, I decided it was time to give the animal 

 a saunter in one of the lanes leading through 

 the ranch, and asked the nearest cowboy to 

 herd for me with a riata. The gate of the 

 corral was thrown open. The horse, seeing 

 freedom ahead, made a wild rush for the lane. 

 The cowboy, instead of keeping my horse at 

 a few feet distance from his own, by taking 

 proper turns on his pommel, threw away his 

 slack, tying only the end of his rope to his 

 saddle. The horse, dashing through the gate 

 at a terrific pace, was thrown to the ground 

 with great force as soon as the rope tautened. 

 Having the fraction of a moment to contem- 

 plate the unfortunate incident that was about 

 to occur, I braced myself and was still on the 

 back of the horse when he regained his feet. 

 The next day I decided to start my ride 

 from the middle of the lane. The horse was 

 held down with blinds over his eyes by two 

 wranglers. Before I quite managed to get 

 my seat he reared high in the air, knocking 

 down one of the men. The other man let the 

 ropes loose and dodged. With the blinds 



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