Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-09-25
Cowboy Still Has Place
With His Horse in The
Life of Great Southwest

cans trapped them, they could not
run them down and rope them and
they have been handed down
through the ages mixed with the
thicker blood of steel dusts, Hamil
tonians and Morgans.
These horses are not so large.
They make up for their lack of size
by being tough and fast and sure
footed and highly intelligent. A
horse than can spring forward from
a standing start into dead run in
one jump, that can bring its rider
within catching distance of full
grown steer in full flight and that
can then stop in its own length and
withstand the strain of that 900
pound lunging steer at the END of
a fifty foot rope, is, as the cowboy
would say, some horse" Any COW
pony can do these things.
In addition the better COW ponies
can go into milling herd of fright
ened cattle, pick out one individual
COW or steer and drive after it
twisting and turning and doubling
back until the wiry little horse
drives the desired animal from the
herd. That is called cutting OUT
Man could not spur the tnorobred
saddle horse into the herd to be-
gin with and if he could the thoro-
bred would turn an ankle or a hook
and break down before he could
comfort himself to follow one wild
COW half a dozen jumps.
A big, heavy man can ride mus
tang forty miles at steady lope,
leave the horse standing for hours
unblanketed, unfed and uncared for
and then ride him back the forty
miles the next day and the pony
will show no ill effects from the
hard usage. The high bred eastern
horse would wilt under such treat
ment and probably die at the hitch
rack at the end Of the first half Of
the ride.
The easterner comes west to see
the cowboy in action. He wants to
see the wild west. The cowboy is
the wild part of the west along with
his wild pitching horses and his
wild believing herds and there is
no fake or doubling about the ex-
hibitions of COW boy sports that one
sees at the Cochise fair or anywhere
else. A man doesn't have to pretend
that he is doing something risky
and difficult when he mounts a horse
that has had to be roped, tied and
blindfolded in order to be saddled.
One will often hear an easterner
ask why the cowboy rides his horse,
wild. They will ask if there is a
purpose in it or if it is just for ex-
hibition. Some of them will also
ask what made the horses so wild.
The weSterner has to stop and think
deeply to understand what the east
erner is talking about.
In the east horse is generally
born in barn. He has a mother
who is driven in harness or ridden
every day and the colt is handled
from the day it is born, BY the
time it is month old it has a hal
ter on and is tied in stall where it
expects to be petted and trained so
that when an easterner starts in to
break a horse he has tame animal
to work on. He puts bride on the
colt and saddle on its back and
leads it around several times this way
and then rides it off and the most.
a stable bred colt is likely to do is
jump two or three times or try to
lie down with it's rider. This colt
IS tame and all that is necessary with
it is to get it used to the bit and
the cinch and the burden.
The western colt Is born out un-
der the stars maybe dozen miles
from any human habitation. He
grows up. His only contact with
man comes during his first year
when he lis run down, roped thrown
heavily tied and. branded That pro-
cess frightens him half to death
and gives him a fear and hatred
of man. His mother has a brand
but in nine cases out of ten has
never been ridden at ALL
When this colt has become a horse
he is as wild an animal as a wolf,
a mountain lion, or a coyote. He
is driven with his wild brothers
into corral, roped, thrown, blind
folded, saddled and then let up with
a 200 pound man on his back, a rope
ON his nose and a pair of spurs
striking at his shoulders and sides.
Continued on page two)