HORSE MASTERSHIP 149 



dollars, and smashed him. The pony was a 

 wild animal, timid but ferocious. The broncho 

 buster was not at all timid, but he was fero- 

 cious to an extent which horrified the animal, 

 and intelligent to a degree which reduced the 

 victim to abject obedience. So the horse 

 surrendered and came into the care of a cow- 

 puncher. They started out together on the 

 range, and if they felt fresh of a morning there 

 would be a bucking match which both of them 

 rather enjoyed. There was no ill feeHng, for 

 after all a horse is as good a sportsman as any 

 man. Then came the work of handHng 

 cattle, and the horse enjoyed that sport which 

 taxed all he had of courage and skill and en- 

 durance. It made a partnership between two 

 persons who loved sport, and dealt with cattle 

 as mere lower animals. There was hearty 

 good fellowship between horse and man, which 

 sometimes ripened into a love stronger than 

 death. 



Of horsemastership as understood in civi- 

 lized life there never was a symptom. When 

 the puncher, after long months of abstinent 

 living, happened to ride into a town, he stepped 

 off his horse, threw the rein to the ground and 

 left the animal standing in the street while he 

 got drunk. Afterwards the pony would carry 



