IX 



THERE is no horse superior to the bronco for endurance ; 

 few are his equals. His only competitor in the equine 

 race is his lowly cousin, the ass, of whom I shall say much 

 anon. The bronco came by his toughness and grit natu- 

 rally enough ; he got them from the Spanish stock of 

 Moorish descent, the individuals of which breed, aban- 

 doned in American wilds in the sixteenth century by the 

 early searchers for gold and for the Fountain of Youth, 

 were his immediate ancestors ; and his hardy life has, by 

 survival of the fittest, increased this endurance tenfold. 

 He is not handsome. His middle-piece is distended by 

 grass food ; it is so loosely joined to his quarters that one 

 can scarcely understand where he gets his weight-carrying 

 capacity, and his hip is very short. He has a hammer- 

 head, partly due to the pronounced ewe-neck which all 

 plains or steppes horses seem to acquire by their nomad 

 life. He has a bit too much daylight under him, which 

 shows his good blood as well as the fact that he has had 

 generations of sharp and prolonged running to do. His 

 legs are naturally perfect, rather light in muscle and slen- 

 der in bone, but the bone is dense, the muscle of strong 

 quality, and the sinews firm. Still, in an Indian's hands 

 his legs finally give way at the knees from sharp stopping 

 with a gag-bit, and curbs will start on his houghs, for a 

 redskin will turn on a ten-cent piece. 



The pony is naturally quick, but his master wants him 

 to be quicker. His hunting and all his sports require work 



