The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1891-01-23
THE COWBOYS ROPE.
Not An the Popular Ideas About
LariatS Are Correct
Wherein Cigarette Pictures and Wild West
Shows Fail TO Give n Thoroughly Accu-
rate Idea of Life on the Range
Tho Cowboys High Heels.


use of the lariat as the old system, says
the Kansas City Star. Up to within five
or six years, to be good roper was ever
a question in making ones estimate of
a good cowboy, and the boys were very
dexterous. Now, months may go with
out a rope being taken from the saddle,
and there are people in the business
who could not rope their own horses.
A lariat is usually of half-inch MANILA
rope and is about sixty feet long. At
one end the rope is bent backward and
spliced into itself, making an eyelet for
the rope to run in and form the loop.
This eyelet is called the hundOo, and as
the loop is grasped for throwing this
RundO0 is two feet forward of the hand
and by its weight assists in spreading
the loop as the roper whirls and throws
il.
The cowboy bred on the plains throws
big loop-twenty feet of rope in it
but the boys from Southern Texas, who
had their novitiate among trees and
brush, use a much smaller loop. In
throwing nothing but the loop is
handled with the right hand, the re-
serve rope being coiled loose in the left
While 90 feet is the usual limit of
bition of roping wherein slim boy
of twenty tied his rope to a steer at
distance of 1O4 feet. The rope is now
mostly confined to the branding pens
and the horse corrals. In the latter one
might as we'll be no roper as not, be-
cause the horses have such fear of be-
ing choked and thrown that any of
them will stop still as a statue in the
% 10 ,l,, = l,
a rope falls across his back. The bronco
regards himself as prey and a spoil to
man the moment he feels a rope and
renders himself captive, rescue or no
rescue. The roping in the branding
pen does not call for 4 high grade of
skill, as the infant bovine, who is the
object of the meeting, is generally
standing, sad and downcast, Immediate
ly between your pony's front legs. The
''go" has all been run out of his little
legs and the gayety driven from his
youthful heart long before he was
crowded with his woe-begone COM
panions into the circle of torture.
1t is frequently necessary to run 4
roadbrand on herd of grown cattle
which are intended to take the trail for
long distances. This road-brand assists
in their recovery in the event Of a
stampede, and even after n year or two.
1t is now put on while running the
cattle through chute, hut in the times
which ante-dated chUtes it was among
cowpuncher'S most exhaustive and ex-
asperating duties. Think of roping,
tying down and branding every member
of herd OF / 900 head of wild and full
grown cattle on q fenceless plain! 1t
was like facing 1000 rounds of catch
as-catch-can wrestling with an expert.
In roping big cattle a great percent
age Of success is dependent on your
pony. He must understand his part Of
the business. y common accident to
careless cowboys and green ponies is to
have the saddle turned by 4 side pull.
This means that you are pro TEN. q
scof and jeer TO other cowpunchers, 10
say nothing of having your $50 saddle
torn TO flinders by your agoniZed pony.
Outside of Wild West shows there Is
scarcely any of this LeadIong throwing
of heavy cattle which has common Illus
tration in cigarette pictures Making a
weak and grass-fcd pony which weighs
less than 600 pounds swap ends with q
1,200-pound steer is not lawn tennis,
and 4 cowboy knows a better way. When
his lariat is safe about the victims horns
he, by 4 steady pressure, brings him
to a sullcn standStill; then, with the
rope loose on the ground, he rides
clear around the steer and incloSeS all
his feet. This done he spurs off like
thunderbolt and the steer is tripped on
his side The moment he is down the
pony faces around so as to make the
rope pull straight over his shoulders and
permit him to watch the steer. The boy
has 70 have his pony at this point and it
is the pOny's duty 70 keep the steer from
regaining his feet This he does by
backing and by keeping steady strain
on the rope, thus holding the steers
head along the ground. While thus
posed the boy ties his helpless legs,
casts off his lariat and the trick is
turned.
1t is matter OF laughter in the East
the high, sharp heel of a cowboys boot.
1t is a popular fallacy that he affects
this heel in a gust of pride and to assist
in producing that jaunty waddle which
naturalistS discover in the movements
of cowboy when on the ground. This
is not so. His sharp heels are as much
a part of his outfit as his leggins or his
Colt" Many of his combats with his
tumultuous wards come of on foot and
if he did not possess these heels to dig
into the ground in resistance he might
as well have on roller skates, as steer
would drag him all over the landscape.
1t may have escaped the touring eye,
but this man OF cows carries 4 pair of
heavy gloves all summer tied at the can
tie of his saddle. They are not present
as a result of fad or whim, nor to go TO
dinner in; they are used in the afore-
said combats to prevent the lariat blis-
tering his sensitive palms.