A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



ures are based on horses which live, and do not com- 

 prise the fools or outlaws, which are cut out and sold 

 in what is known as the "scalawag bunch." 



At one time the demand for polo ponies, and the 

 idea that Texas cutting horses filled the bill, threat- 

 ened to make a serious drain on our cow horse stock, 

 because the required qualifications took the best cow 

 horses; but the situation was saved by the specifica- 

 tion for height, and the fact that most outfits would 

 not part with their best horses at any price. 



The demand for war horses used up much of the 

 good floating cowboy stock to be picked up young and 

 untrained. It was usually raised by young country 

 boys. If an outfit had to go out and buy a ramuda 

 of lOO horses, the units would be difficult to pick up 

 at any price in the country. 



An outstanding cow horse is worth what he will 

 bring, and it is inadvisable to quote a price which is 

 thought too high for the other fellow to pay, I have 

 seen more than one man who priced a horse too high 

 back clean down, rather than let his horse go. There 

 are more buyers for a $300 cow horse than there are 

 horses good enough to realize that price or owners 

 willing to sell. 



I have been hearing all my life about "stud horse 

 luck," but with never a thought of its origin. It 

 comes home to me now as I think of S. M. S. luck 

 in getting that first good horse Old Arab, and that 

 leads to the conclusion that, after all, "stud horse 



[166] 



