GRACEFUL RIDING. 31 



" A man of kindness to his beast is kind, 

 But brutal actions show a brutal mind : 

 Remember He who made thee, made the brute, 

 Who gave thee speech and reason, form'd him mute ; 

 He can't complain, but God's omniscient eye 

 Beholds thy cruelty. He hears his cry. 

 He was designed thy servant — not thy drudge ; 

 But know, that his Creator is thy Judge." 



Colt-breaking by the Guachos is performed in the 

 same mode as the Kalmucks, with the lasso ; the 

 idea of being thrown, let a horse do what he pleases, 

 never occurs to a Guacho. According to them, a 

 " good rider '' is a man who can manasje an untamed 

 colt, and one, if his horse should fall, could alight 

 unhurt upon his feet. At the moment of a horse 

 falling backwards they can slip quietly off, and, on 

 the instant of his rising, jump on him again. They 

 never seem to exert muscular force, and appear to 

 ride very loosely, as if every moment they must fall 

 off: yet should his horse be suddenly frightened, the 

 Guacho will start, and take, simultaneously, fright 

 with the horse. There is nothing done on foot by 

 the Guachos that cannot be done on horseback ; even 

 mounted beggars are to be seen in the streets of 

 Buenos Ayres and Mendoza. It is not, therefore, 

 surprising that, with such multitudes of horses, that 

 the people should all be riders, and excel all other 

 nations in their expertness and boldness in their 

 management. 



