AGRICULTURE: 22, 
The horse learns to watch the reata; if it catches, he slackens 
his pace, or stops suddenly ; if it does not catch, he continues 
at full speed, while the vaquero pulls up the reata and prepares 
to throw it again. The saddle and bridle are both peculiar, 
and necessary to the trade of the vaquero. The saddle-tree, or 
Juste, is made of four pieces of wood, two of which are longi- 
tudinal and rest on the sides of the horse; one forms a high 
back; and the fourth is a fork, which rises in a large strong 
horn. The pieces are strongly fastened together, and the 
whole framework is covered with wet rawhide, which shrinks 
when dry, and contributes much to its strength. A good fuste 
is stout enough to hold the strongest bull. The girth is four 
inches wide, and is made of a number of little ropes of horse- 
hair, connecting two iron rings four inches in diameter. One 
of these rings is fastened on the right side of the saddle, by 
straps running over the front and back of the fuste; and a 
similar ring is fastened in like manner on the left side of the 
fuste. In this latter ring is a rawhide strap three feet long. 
When the saddle is to be fastened, this strap runs through the 
ring at the loose end of the girth, then through the upper ring, 
then down to the girth ring again; and the vaquero pulls, and 
usually draws so tightly that the wide girth cuts into the 
horse’s belly and evidently displaces its contents. When a 
vaquero is preparing for a day of lassoing, there is no danger 
that the saddle will slip. The girth has: ‘no buckle about it, 
and is made wide to give it strength and to prevent it from 
hurting the horse. It is placed farther back than in American 
saddles, and rarely cuts the skin, just behind the fore-legs. 
Sometimes in lassoing, the animal caught will get off sideways 
from the horse, and the saddle must be so firmly in its place, 
that it cannot move ; and sometimes the vaquero will drop his 
reata after having caught his cow or horse, and then while: his 
horse is going at full speed he must reach down, supporting 
himself with one hand on the horn of the saddle and with the 
other seize the reata. For such feats, the girth must not be 
loose. The stirrups are of wood, about three inches wide, and 
