RISING TO A TROT 107 



do can keep him out of the saddle. In fact, a plunge 

 which drags him from his feet will all the more certainly 

 swing him to his seat. Then, after a series of bucks more 

 or less severe, according as to how much the pony has 

 been " busted," during which exercise the cowboy's spurs 

 go time and again into the pony's flanks, and the pony 

 acts like the veriest wild beast, the mastery is established 

 where it properly belongs, the pony steadies down after 

 a fashion, and harmony, such as it is, reigns till the next 

 time of mounting. 



The cowboy universally rides a lope, as do all people 

 who use wild horses. The bronco has no other gait, in 

 fact, unless a sort of fox-trot. The cowboy's seat is un- 

 suited to an open trot. He won't ride it if he can help 

 it, and it may as well be confessed, he cannot and no 

 one can sit close without pounding to the long rangy 

 trot of a big thorough-bred, though it is the perfection of 

 gaits if you rise to it. There is a good deal of nonsense 

 talked about rising to a trot almost as much as there is 

 about drinking iced - water. The fact is that all peoples, 

 wild and semi-civilized, who are used to horses, rise to a 

 trot. They don't do it often because they prefer and 

 train their horses to other and better gaits ; but if their 

 mount falls into a trot, or they happen to ride a trotting 

 horse, they naturally rise, as a matter of course. It is 

 only those who stick exclusively to the old ramrod pat- 

 tern who do not do so. 



I seem to have roped iced- water into the question, but 

 I will use it only to quote a clever friend of mine, a doc- 

 tor of no mean repute. Said he to me one day : " Why 

 do you all declaim against iced-water ? Of course it can 

 be abused by drinking in a heated condition so can any 

 other food or drink be abused. But all animals drink 

 iced-water a good part of the year. When you water a 



