Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-09-25

NOW that the charming old EngllSh
habit of having cup of tea every
afternoon between golf and dinner has
come to the great open spaces 10 stay.
Now that men in the prime of life
take exercise, pleasure and recreation
by Slugging bit of corrugated white
ball about the back pasture, the great
southwest has little left to make it
distinctive and to remind the visitor
that Arizona, Cochise county and
Douglas were once the scenes of every
thing typical of the wild west.
Still have we with us the horse and
the COW but during the greater part
of the year they are not permitted to
intrude upon our vision Unless we be
of the more fortunate race OF men
who, having been born with love for
freedom and dislike for tea and tees
still follow the herd and ride the
heaving bronco.
1t is a good thing that once at least
each year this city and this county
may drop the manners of the east
and of Old England, disregard few
of the conventions and get out, and
strain the throat and exercise the
voice box with such old fashioned bat
tie crys as ride him cowboy" and
"stay with him kid
During the seventh annual Cochise
county fair there will be exhibited on
the fair grounds a real program of
cowboy sports. Sports is the word
used to describe this sort of an ex-
hibition among ordinary people, but to
no 1f
things he does at one Of these rodeos
is really just part of his regular
work on the ranch.
A cowboy out on his home range
ropes hundreds of calves and ties them
He does it quickly, probably not all
the time as quickly as he will at the
rodeo, but just the same when cow
boy out on the range ropes calf and
wants to tie before its enraged mother
pokes a hole through him with her
horns he will work even more quickly
than he does at the exhibition.
Riding steers is not regular part
of a cowboys work. but riding wild
horses that pitch, bite and fall over,
is Just as much a part of the days
work as punching a clock is to the
man who works in the city. The work
of the cowboy is dangerous. A mad
cow or a mad bull ION the peck" as
COW hand puts it, is as dangerous a
thing as might be met with anywhere.
A wild horse with taint of temper
is as unsafe to tamper with as the
lions and tigers in a circus arena, and
vet the cowboy is not cowboy II he
can't or won't try to ride this bronco.
People talk about the passing Of the
horse. It is estimated that in CochlSe
county there are 10000 wild horses
roaming at large, many of them never
having had rope on them and others
only having been caught one time
when they were young at which time
they were branded and again treed.
The horse is not passing as rapidly as
many think 1t is a peculiar thing
that while draft horses and the sort OF
horse that used to draw carriages and
wagons through the streets OF cities
has gone, probably forever the saddle
horse and the cow pony lives on and
are in demand.
Horses, as they go, are cheap, cheaper
than they have ever been in the MS
tory of man, but still a COW pony tnaC
has the better qualifications OF a rope
horse or a cutting horse will bring
fancy price on the ranges and COW
pony which can win race against his
fellows still demands a top price.
The horse is infinitely better OH
today in this country than ne mas
ever been. There are more OF them
for the limited amount OF work
there is for them to do. The best OF
them are still as highly priced and
as well cared for as they ever were
and the rest of them run wild ana
free upon the limitless ranges OF
the foothills and valley of this coun-
ty.
The easterner who has sporting
blood in his veins and who owns a
stable full of standard breed OF thor
obred saddle horses or racing stock
crys out in admiration at the Arl-
zona cowboys mount. He pauSeS to
wonder how the, desert and the sage
brush ever produced such an AMI
NAL.
In the east a cold blooded horse
is Just horse but here in Arizona
every native bred horse has some OF
the ear marks of high born ancestry
combined with the head, neck and
feet of the wild mustang. One sees
the finest product of the southwest
when he sees a COW pony race.
Since the memory of man runneth
not to the contrary there have been
wild horses in the southwest. They
were, in the early days, the fastest
and most sure of foot of all living
creatures. The Spanish and Mexi-
primarily upon ,amenabilitY of the