ENGLISHMEN ON THE PLAINS 109 



thorough-bred s have always beaten ponies ; but that the 

 pony will recover from what may kill the thorough-bred 

 is equally clear. In the Berlin - Vienna ride no doubt 

 fewer of the ponies died ; but those thorough- breds which 

 died a day or two after could probably have gone much 

 farther and left the ponies still farther behind, before 

 they dropped. The grit of the thorough-bred is a wonder- 

 ful element. So long as you keep him moving he will 

 resist death in a manner utterly inexplicable ; when, if you 

 stop him, he may die in a few hours. 



But the cowboy is unequalled in his own province, and 

 this is enough of fame. His seat is astonishing. It is a 

 common feat for him to put a playing-card on the saddle, 

 or a dollar piece under each foot in the stirrup, or under 

 his knees, and ride a vigorous bucker. Still he cannot 

 ride a flat saddle until he learns the trick of it. And 

 while no cowboy, without serving his apprenticeship in 

 the hunting-field, would hold his own with practised rid- 

 ers there, it is certain that he would much sooner learn 

 to ride across country well than even the best of cross- 

 country men could vie with him in controlling a vicious 

 bronco, or indeed, in riding over the rough country he is 

 wont to cover. It is the universal experience of the 

 plains that the best English rider fights shy of ground 

 which the cowboy will gallop over, until he catches on to 

 it and confides in the sure feet of his little mount. Some 

 men never learn to ride ; but it stands to reason, caeteris 

 paribus, that the man who makes riding his business will 

 be a stouter horseman than one to whom it is a mere 

 diversion. 



