226 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



and aliglit upon his feet as tlie horse falls. After riding for a 

 couple of hours, the vaquero reaches forward, pushes the blind 

 down over the horse's eyes and dismounts. To dismount with- 

 out first putting down the blind would be very dangerous, for 

 the horse would |)robably kick him. He takes oif the saddle, 

 hoists the blind, ties him to a fence or a tree with his head up, 

 and gives him neither food nor water. The next morning he 

 is very stiflf and hungry. The vaquero does not feed him, but 

 pulls down the blind, puts on the saddle, mounts him again, 

 and the scenes of the previous day are re-enacted, though the 

 jumping is less furious. After a couple of hours of exercise, 

 the horse is tied where he can get water and grass. Every day 

 he is ridden. In five or six days he quits jumj^ing. In three 

 months the blind is laid aside. In four months a bit is put in 

 his mouth. This is strange to him, and he jumps stiflF-legged. 

 If the first bit used is American, he will jump again when the 

 liarsher Spanish bit is used. When any thing is wrong he jumps 

 stifi*-legged. During the first month or two his nose will be 

 very sore where the jaquima or halter crosses it, caused by the 

 pulling of the halter in holding and guiding the animal. At the 

 end of a couple of months he learns to follow the guidance of 

 the jaquima almost as readily as afterward the bit. After he 

 has been ridden daily for six months, he has become tame and 

 quiet, and he commences to fatten up again ; for during the 

 first three or four weeks he worries himself so much, with his 

 vain plungings, that he loses flesh rapidly. The Californian 

 horse, when once broken, is kindly in disposition. JHe rarely 

 bites or kicks, no matter how roughly he may be used. 



After having been broken to the saddle, he must be taught 

 the uses of the reata. The vaquero always carries his reata 

 with him, and the horse soon learns to see it swinging about 

 the rider's head. The reata is first thrown at small calves and 

 then at larger ones, and the horse gradually learns that he can 

 best hold a lassoed animal by presenting his head toward it, 

 and bracing himself back with his fore-feet. The reata is fast- 

 ened to the horn of a saddle, strong enough to hold a bull. 



