RISING TO A TROT 107 



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

 which drags hiin from his feet will all the more certainly 

 swine: 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 s])urs 

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

 acts like the veriest wild beast, the mastery is established 

 where it ]:)ro])erly belongs, the l)ony 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 miiy 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 

 onl}'' 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 : " AA^hy 

 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. AVhen you water a 



