46 CATCHING AND BREAKING IN OF HORSES IN THE TEXAS. 
“ What is the poisonous substance by means of which mouldy 
bread occasions the death of horses 1 
“ What is the nature of glanders in horses, whether considered 
as to its causes, symptoms, organic lesions, and treatment, and its 
quality of being communicated by contagion to other animals, not 
excepting man]” 
THE CATCHING AND BREAKING IN OF HORSES 
IN THE TEXAS. 
[Extracted from Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, November 1843.] 
The Mustangs are small horses, rarely above fourteen hands 
high, and are descended from the Spanish breed, introduced by the 
original conquerors of the country. During the three centuries 
that have elapsed since the conquest of Mexico, they have in- 
creased and multiplied to an extraordinary extent, and are to be 
found in vast droves in the Texian prairies, although they are now 
beginning to become somewhat scarcer. They are taken with the 
lasso , concerning which instrument or weapon I will here say a 
word or two, notwithstanding that it has been often described. 
The lasso is usually from twenty to thirty feet long, very flexible, 
and composed of strips of twisted ox-hide. One end is fastened 
to the saddle, and the other, which forms a running noose, held in 
the hand of the hunter, who, thus equipped, rides out into the 
prairie. When he discovers a troop of wild horses, he manoeuvres 
to get to windward of them, and then to approach as near them as 
possible. If he is an experienced hand, the horses seldom or never 
escape him; and as soon as he finds himself within twenty or thirty 
feet of them, he throws the noose with unerring aim over the neck 
of the one that he has selected for his prey. This done, he turns 
his own horse sharp round, gives him the spur, and gallops away, 
dragging his unfortunate captive after him, breathless, and with 
his windpipe so compressed by the noose that he is unable to make 
the smallest resistance, but, after a few yards, falls headlong to the 
ground, and lies motionless, and almost lifeless. Sometimes, indeed, 
he is badly hurt or disabled. From this day forward, the horse 
which has been thus caught never forgets the lasso : the mere sight 
of it makes him tremble in every limb; and, however wild he may 
be, it is sufficient to shew it to him, or lay it on his neck, in order 
to render him as tame and docile as a lamb. 
The horse being taken, next comes the breaking in, which is 
effected in a no less brutal manner than his capture. The e}'es of 
