HORSEMANSHIP 179 



and make our endurance rides without killing 

 our horses. 



Among ourselves we are more critical. The 

 Mexican ranchero for example wears a revolver 

 on the belt, a sword on the saddle, a silver 

 bridle, a suit of leather beautifully laced with 

 gold or silver, and a most prodigious hat. But 

 do these fine feathers make him a fine bird ? 

 Or is the prancing arch-necked horse made 

 sprightly by pinched shoes and a spade bitt ? 



By contrast the Boer is the most slovenly 

 of horsemen, both in his old slop suit and in his 

 flapping gait, but in scouting and fighting by 

 far the best instructor we ever met, and either 

 as enemy or friend we love his manhood. If 

 horsemanship is an expression of manhood, we 

 do not mind the form if we can get the fact. 

 More manhood goes to the making of one Boer 

 than to a hundred Mexicans. 



Searching for the elements distinctive of 

 range horsemanship, as contrasted with the 

 pleasure, the military and the working horse- 

 manship of civilization, a few essential things 

 come clearly into view. 



Rough Riding. When a range man is asked 

 if he can ride, as a matter of course he says 

 " No." But if he really wants to come up 

 against the champion outlaw horse of the 



