Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-09
Methods of Men Who Are Expert
in Throwing the Lasso.
MAKING AND HANDLING OF THE ROPE
The Cleverness of Cowboys on the
Great Cattle Ranges,
'ROP1NG" IN THE GREAT WEST


Howard Reynolds in the WIDE World Magazine.
because Roosevclts rough riders were
mainly superb hursemen, familiar with tho
use OF that unique implement, the lasso. n
variety of wild statements have .heen made,
IN the press regarding the potency of th,
rope as ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS which
were amusing to any one familiar with the
article IN question. For Instance, on, re-
cent statement in a New England paper
'''i'isu an eHective range for the lasso Of
something like a hundred yards. while In
the most sensational sheets there haye hoo,
vivid illustrations of lasso charges against
massed Spanish troops!
AS a matter of fact, lasso is about ,,r,,-
feet iong-seldom exceeding fifty foo, a,,
out or that must be deducted the an,n,,,t
taken IN making the moose and the mart
"hich Is retained in the hand. Thus 1t is
seen lhat the average cast is about twenty.
I'VE leet or thirty feet, and the .roper''
Mn1 can throw anywhere near fifty feet
MIN accuracy Is a rarity. In California
aheS sometimes use rope as long as sixty-
nVe feet, but there they seem To have a
napit OF throwing an enormously large
Ipop-1nuch larger than is really necessary.
IN actual work, however, it VIII be found
that mans hand Is not larpe epouph
properly 10 hold much morethan forty feet
OF rope when coile1 ready to throw
Inc iasso is a creation of a certain en-
Vlfonment and need. Its place is on tho
broad pratries and grazing lands md ira
chiei utility lies in the stock business In
Is almost useless in a wooded country by
reason OF the distractions afforded nv
branches and bushes. The finest lassos
are of rawhide, cut into thin strips and
braided six ply. into a rope of from three
eieh'as 10 one-half inch In diameter They
are quite expensive. a good forty-foot rnna
costing about 81. on this account. of late
years hard-twisted grass rope Is used: but
the rawhde rope is the best in a wind a.
1t Is heavier, and when IaI
not affected by wet weather. braided
rope also has less tendency to kiuk than a
twisted rope. Cowboys have a mixture Of
iard and beeswax with which they dress
their hemp or linen ropes to keen ONT
dampness, and also to prevent them from
getting TOO dry The most celebrated of tho
which produces an article much sllnerine
TO the tougher ones turned out In Mexico
How to Throw It,
There are three general methods Of
throwing with many minor variations Of
INDIVIDUAL habit The rope is held in prac-
ticaIly the same way in every case First
Is the pain, straight cast, moose swing ng
around above the head from right to left,
ny rotating wrist movement Some
iopeIs throw small loop. hard and fast,
Almost on a level, others a larger lazier
klhd which nevertheless arrives For
myself rather favor the small loon
a,pUwh nard, as it seems the hest all
around style, most effective against the
wind or other adverse conditions
lie ann Is omeWhat to the right of tha
OBJECT To be roped-say a foot and half on
d twenty -nVe-foot throw. the exact instant
Oh release being governed by we ght IF
rope wind, velocity of swing etc Jpdp.
l men comes lnstinctively with practice.
me rest or the rope is held coled in the
othef hand and released as fast as desired
TWO or three coils being retained,
10 shub the rope wind it about the
p penn mel after casting) in the instant Of
allowed ,,it.
throwing properly. The Mexicans. with
Their large-diameter pommels, have to take
only one turn; the American pommei. being
smaller. require two. The pommel OFTEN
smokes from the friction created and 10
frequently deeply grooved and almost burn
Ell by the rope. The important mart nlavad
ny the trained COW pony Is obvious He is
Taught TO settle back on his launches the
instant the rope begins to tighten and in
many other ways materially to assist his
master.
The second method of throwing is exactly
the reverse, lie, the moose is swung from
lne lett to right above the head before re-
lease This is called the California throw
ana possibly gives little greater range
Al any rate, one or two of the longest
throWers know use 1t. and l find it 50
nyse1. 1t may be only personal result,
Any good roper" can throw either way
me thlrd cast is the corral drag" which,
as us name implies, is for use afoot and in
confined quarters. 1t consists in trailing
out the loop on the ground behind one and
swapping II forward by an underhand mo.
ton.
Lasso's Greatest Effectiveness.
The lasso's greatest effectiveness az n
weapon, is when the wieder is mounted.
" hen both adversaries are afoot its value
Is very shght With cattle or horses it Is an
entirely different thing. The whole essence
of the matter Is to tighten the moose around
an opponent with "a jerk sufficient to dis
mount him or take him off his feet To
that end you may ride past him swiftly or,
II pursuing him, stop your own horse sud-
denly. or, If he Is stationary, and YOU cam
not ride past him. you can wheel your own
horse and retire after successful cast. In
iassoing a man, If done skillfully the in
slant of time is too brief for him eli her IN
throw off the Tightening moose or cut it,
And 1t is one of the most deceptive things
TO attempt to dodge
1t is possible to control the moose of a
lasso by the remainder of the rope but IL
is a deXterity which few acquire in years.
The finest roper / know, Vicente Oropesa.
champion of old Mexico. can do this to per.
lection. and his performance Is one of tho
ableSt things in that interesting exposition
Of craftsmanship Oropesa is an enthusiast
one of the MeNicans once told me that ono
night the champion dreamed Of new cast.
and at once got up and went out scantily
clad, and in half an hour had mastered it.
In spinning the rope l have been accused
Of sticking securing the honda or slip<
moose from sliding, but in reality it is pert
leclly Tree 10 move d4DilS lNe rope. IN IdcL
L can readily start spinning a moose twd
feet in diameter and increase it steadily ID
eight or ten feet across.
A popularity about roping horses Of
steers is that after getting a hard fall
few times they quickly get .rope-sense."
have often seen them, in corral, stand
stock still when the rope falls across their
backs-even when, a matter of fact they
are not caught. If any reader has ever en-
countered a clothesline while running at
full speed in the dark, the line stretched
at about the Level of the throat, he will
notice that he doesn't run across that lawn
any more after nghtfall. He's got "ropes
sense in fact.
Perfection Comes With Practice.
There are several uses which the lasso
could be put to. 1t seems to me, even in
quite densely populated districts In capa-
BILE hands 1t would afford an excellent
means Of stopping the many street run
aways and it also could almost always be
utilized where skater broke through the
ice And as regulator Of fast bicycling it
would easily stand unrivaled, for no
scorcher would dare to ride past a guar
dian of the peace equipped with the per-
suasive lariat.
The spinning of the rope gives great prac-
tice in acquiring general accuracy. and is