Station Work 37 



Most stockmen understand the breaking of 

 young horses, and on stations where horsebreed- 

 ing is carried on to any considerable extent, there 

 are usually one or two men well qualified for such 

 work. The methods employed are of the rough- 

 and-ready order, little time being wasted in pre- 

 paring the unbroken animal for the ordeal of being 

 mounted. Once in the saddle, it is the rider's ob- 

 ject to enforce his mastery, applying whip and 

 spur with relentless energy at any sign of rebel- 

 lion. I can recall from my own boyhood a picture 

 of one of these horsebreakers, whom we only knew 

 as " Sydney Bob" an undersized man, but deep- 

 chested and strong of arm, and with a weather- 

 beaten face that expressed strong determination. 

 In his dress, Sydney Bob was "flash," addicted 

 to tight cords and neat boots, a brilliant scarlet 

 handkerchief knotted around his throat, and a 

 wide-leaved cabbage-tree hat. The particular in- 

 cident with which he is connected in my mind 

 was the riding of a young bullock down the main 

 street of a small township near Ballarat. The 

 ride was the outcome of a wager, and the feat was 

 made more dangerous by the fact that the rider 

 had one arm in a sling, probably as a result of a 

 fall from some unbroken horse. The bullock was 

 hemmed in in a small yard of the local sale-yards, 

 and the first notice he received of the wager of 

 which he had been made the subject, was to find 

 a man astride his back. The panels were let 

 down, and the bullock rushed out into the street 



