12 BAREBACK RIDING 



saAT, but the word *' perfect " has a limited meaning. To be 

 perfect in doing a thing incorrectly is a misapplication 

 of endeavor, the more so if the thing done is per se useful. 



The average bareback rider of civilization is far from 

 perfect. He pulls on his horse's mouth for dear life. If 

 he quits his hold of the bridle or halter rope he is gone. He 

 is, if any man, the typical three-legged rider — the very 

 exemplar of what is vicious in the art. Good bareback 

 riding, on the other hand, is one of the finest of perform- 

 ances. Did you ever try it ? It is all very well so long 

 as you have a bridle and a good tough mouth to hold on 

 by ; but drop your bridle, fold your arms, and see what 

 happens. If your horse knows you and you him, or if 

 you have been there before, well and good ; but with a 

 green beast, even if kind, you will find yourself all at sea ; 

 and should you happen to have caught a Tartar, you will 

 be sent to Coventry in short measure, to be a trifle mixed 

 in metaphor. 



Now the old-time Indian did just what you find so diffi- 

 cult. He needed both hands for other things than hold- 

 ing on. When hunting, he must use his bow and arrow ; 

 on the war-path still less could he spare a hand to his 

 horse. He was a consummate rider, who, despite what 

 •we call defects in style, could outdo in his way any rider 

 who exists to-day. There are, of course, many things 

 which only a man in a saddle can undertake; but that 

 by no means makes him the better rider. We must yield 

 the palm to the bareback seat. 



What we have said of our old-time Indian applies with 

 equal force to the cavalryman of antiquity. Livy aptly 

 divides cavalry into " those with and those without the 

 bridle," meaning regular and irregular horse. The former 

 were the heavy horsemen. The latter guided their horses 

 with voice or legs, or with a slender rod. " The Numid- 



