San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-12-01
RIDING BUCK JUMPERS.
EXPERIENCES ON THE BACK OF
HORSES THAT JUMP.

HORSES THAT JUMP.
Buck Jumpers Are Found in Large Num-
bers in AustraIia-HOw It Feels to lie
in the Saddle on One of These Beasts,
An Account Of. a Difficult Mount.
Mr.. Finch Hatton, who has much to say
about bucEers, tells US that sore backs and
girth CALLING are the curses of Australian
bush riding-curses which are chiefly due
to the careleSsness of riders. \ horse fed
solely on grass and galloped nearly hun
bred miles at a stretch is, of course, more
liable To sore back than one fed upon oats,
and an additional disadvantage to Austria
liam 'walers" is that they are never
grOomed, and therefore have very dirty
coats. Moreover, they are ridden in a
shapelesS, cumbersome machine called a
colonial saddle, which is made of rough
leather, with a high pommel and cantle
and huge knee pads.
Altogether this unwieldy COntrivance
weighs about twenty pounds, and any
thing better devised to create sore back
it would be impossible to invent. The Aus
traian winter nj hts are cold and fresh,
and it is astonishing that there should not
be more roarers in the island continent
Nature revenges herself, however, by in
iicting on almost every Australian horse
a sore back, and it was the belief of Lieut.
Col. Mundy, The author of "Our Anti
Dodes," that the large number of Austria
liam buck jumpers was directly attribute
BILE to the universally among them of
sore back.
ONE MANS OPINION.
Mr.. Finch lIattou adds that this trouble
some complaint is seldom caused by al
English saddle. and for this reason he
made Il point of invariably using one dur
ing the whole Of his stay in the colonies,
unless he knew that the animal he was
about to bestride was certain to buck, Tin
which case it is perfectly hopeless to stick
on in an English saddle"
Seated OH buck jumper the rider sees
nothing in front of him but the pommel
of the saddle, and feels, in Mr.. Finch Hat
tons words, "as if he were assisting at an
earthquake or railway accident" In
buckinS IA horse tucks his head between
his foreegs, and holds it so low as some
times to strike his under jaw with his hind
feet Meantime the back is arched like
that of a pugnaCiOus eat, and the ,tremen-
dOus bounds, sometimes forward, some
times backward, and sometimes aside,
made by the animal in this position are
kept up almost without intermission for
several minutes, until, in some cases, he
throws himself on the ground, bafiied in
his attempt to unseat his rider, whom he
tries to crush by rolling over him.
To sit him, unless the saddle has knee
pads, is said by Mr. Finch Hatton to be an
absolute impossiDiity; but in a colonial
saddle any one who keeps his nerve and is
fair horseman can triumph over the
worst and most violent offender.
A ROYAL BATTLE.
One hundred and thirty years ago the
celebrated Col Tarleton, who was called
the Scourge of the Carolinas," had a tus-
sic in Virginia-where he was fighting for
King George Ill against the American reb-
els--with formidable black thoroughbred
who was credited with being able to jump
six feet high and to keep on Jumping and
bucking, sometimes straight and some
times with sidelOng bounds, for half an
hour at a time. An account of the strug-
gle between the mad horse and his indom-
liable rider was given not long after its
occurrence by Virginia newspaper in as
dramatic and stirring bit OF writing as
ever appeared in print.
attention was attracted by the violent
plungings of horse which two stout En-
glish grooms were endeavoring to lead to
the spot where Col. Tarleton and | were
standing. The horse was a large and pow
erful brute, beautifully formed, and as
black as crow, with an eye that seemed
to blaze with ire. His progress was one
continued bound-at times swinging the
grooms off the ground, as though they
were tassels hung on his huge Spanish bit.
asked Col. TarletOn the meaning of this
scene, and he answered quietly that he had
heard of the horse as an unmanageable
brute, and had bought him for the large
sum of 9lOO"-the word dollar" was then
unknown in North America-"in order to
ride him. Ride himp said /; you might
as well try to back a streak of lightning"
THE BRUTE CONQUERED.
Col. Tarleton, however, had not miscal-
culated his own powers in the saddle.
Rather below the middle height, and with
a face almost femininely beautiful, the
''brave sabreur" of the British army was
at that time a perfect model of sinewy
strength and vigor. Without a particle of
superfuous flesh, bis rounded limbs and
broad chest seemed to be nodded out OF
iron, yet with an elasticity and suppleness
which usually accompany faultlessness OF
shape His dress-it was the height Of
summer-was a jacket and breeches of
white linen, fitting close to the figure.
Boots OF russell leather hung below the
knee, with their tops turned down and
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