112 PRELIMINARIES 



in. Some ponies take more busting than others, and 

 some always buck more or less, however well broken. 

 In fact, when the punchers turn out of a cold morning, 

 the ponies will pitch through the entire outfit, and the 

 crowd stands around to see each man mount, watch 

 the fun, and chaff the rider. If a pony chances to win 

 a heat and his rider comes a cropper, it is what genial 

 John Leech calls a " little 'olliday " to the rest of the 

 boys. 



Two rides will usually bust a bronco so that the aver- 

 age cow-puncher can use him, but he would scarcely keep 

 company long with most Central Park riders. Two men 

 generally work together. They enter the corral, where 

 there is apt to be a, good bunch of ponies; and these, as 

 if guessing what is to come, at once jump away, and go 

 careering madly around the enclosure. One man handles 

 the rope, which he trails along the ground until he selects 

 his pony, and then, with a sudden and dexterous snap, 

 drags it over his head. A good roper can cast twenty-five 

 feet. Then both men seize hold, dig their heels into the 

 ground to stop the pony — knack will enable even one 

 man to jerk him up, if need be — and finally get a turn 

 round the snubbing - post in the centre of the corral. 

 There they have the pony fast, and they gradually work 

 him up to it. The pony does not submit to this vigorous 

 coaxing in any amiable mood. He bucks and plunges, 

 kicks and squeals, and charges straight at his tormentors, 

 who have to play a regular game of hide-and-seek behind 

 the snubbing-post to save themselves from broken bones. 

 But even a bronco with his lungs pumped dry will suc- 

 cumb, and finally the men get the winded pony snubbed 

 up close to the post, where one can hold him while the 

 other gets behind him and catches another rope on one 

 fore -foot. Then, as the pony starts, he yanks tlie foot 



