East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1914-09-24

nine times. on-saddling twelve, and /
riding a range horse on the quarter
rlile track six miles in 13 minutes, I
II IL seconds.
For wild rush and reckless speed I
and turns, nothing can outriyal the
cow-pony race. A score Of plains
bred men and horses flashed from
the start, swung around the track in
wild, mad tear and smother Of
du ust, rafting, hammer-and-tongs
run. The Indian relay is another
thrilling event, for the red men run
th.i mile riding bareback, changing
horses at every lap, leaping their
horses often at full speed. But for
Gameness and fine riding the twenty
squaws who ran tn squaw race, also
on horses that were bareback save
for surcingle, were worthy represen-
tatives of their tribe. In brilliant
garb, like so many bundles Of color,
with their black braids streaming in
the wind, they shot like irridescent
streaks around the great oval This
daring racing Is attended with some
spills and injuries, but as l helped to
carry from the track one Of the rid
ers before the galloping hoofs again
encircled the track, her finely fea-
tured face, while bearing a bad cash,
also bore through her suffering that
superb self-control and stoicism Of her
race.
But no less courageous and daring
are the white women who ride,
whether it be cow-pony race or relay,
and when you get riders like Bertha
Blancett, Nettie Hawn, Hazel Walk
!. er, Vera McGinnis and Blanche Nc
Gaughey, the last word has been
said in this style of racing. These
women areskilled in the lore of the
} race and the horse no less than the
men of the range. They not only put
. their horses to the utmost, but ride
, with consummate knowledge dis
played in every form of generalship
; in the race. Yet these quiet-manner-
; ed girls and women in another week
: perchance would be about their do
: mestic duties in house or ranch or at
, high school. Regrettable incidents
which happen occasionally go only
: to show the kind of stuff of which
THESE TlueTS are InaOe.
= When Bertha Blancett's father took
: all the docile horses away to pre-
vent his little-seven-year-o from
riding them, she learned to handle
! and ride" by capturing a wild colt
and by riding the milch cows nearly
4 to death. In 1904, she not only rode
. the famous bucker, Dynamite, a.
Cheyenne. but at Calgary drew anc
rode that wicked animal, Red Wing
which killed Joe Lemare.
After such a whirlwind of excite.
ment. a moments pause gives the
crowd a chance to catch it's breath
and the dust to settle. Then, from
in front of the cottonwoods, the
mounted cowboy band swings into
the track, and to well-played MARTA
music the cowboys and cowgirls
e mounted grand march is ushered in
s Following the directors, many o.
: them ranchmen, two or three or foul
o abreast, about three hundred cow
{ boys and cowgirls pass in review tC
d the jingle of chain and spur and the
n reich of leather. The girls are ii
I colored corduroy and khaki or firing
r ed and embroidered buckskin, tn
s men in the ever-picturesque chaps
T" those of Angora hair often brilliant
4 ly dyed, those of leather glistening il
e their studdings of silver; while loose
d ly, freely, and generally askew abou
n their necks, brilliantly colored ker
! chiefs lap or flutter in the breeze.
h Striking in this ride of romance ant
e kaleidoscope of color is the IndiaI
4 contingent on their gaily caparisoneC
r horses whose long -tasselled trapping
e flapped about them while the copper
colored. painted faces of old chief
v young buck, pretty squaw, and LITTLE
e papoose, stencilled in imperturabl,
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