SADDLES
WE know that comparatively few of our boys take their hikes on
horseback, especially their camping hikes. But a lot of their daddies
and big brothers do take their horse, and the pack horse on their
hunting and fishing trips, and every boy wants to know how to do the
things his daddy knows how to do. Besides all that, the author is aware
of the fact that the daddies and the uncles and the big brothers are
reading all the stuff he puts out for the boys. They are constantly
quoting to the author things that he has said to the boys, so that now
in writing a book for the boys he must count them in.
CHOOSE A SADDLE THAT FITS
Everyone knows the misery of an ill-fitting shoe, and no one in his
right mind would think of taking a prolonged hike in shoes that pinched
his feet, but everybody does not know that a saddle should fit the
rider; an ill-fitting saddle can cause almost as much discomfort as an
ill-fitting shoe. The best all-around sportsman's saddle in the world
is the cowboy saddle of the West. A writer in the _Saturday Evening
Post_, who has written a delightfully intelligent article on saddles,
in speaking of the Western cow-puncher's saddle, says:
"There are many good riders who have never thrown a leg over any other
sort of saddle, and for work on the plains or in the mountains no man
who has used one would ever care for any other type. It is as much a
distinct product of this continent as is the birch bark canoe or the
American axe or rifle."
Like the cowboy hat, the diamond hitch and the lariat, the cowboy
saddle is evolved from the Spanish adaptation of the Moorish saddle.
The old-fashioned Spanish saddle with the heavy wooden block stirrups,
not the bent wood stirrups, but the big stirrups made out of blocks
of wood (Fig. 273); such a saddle with stirrups often weighed over
sixty pounds. These saddles were garnished with silver and gold, and
the spurs that the rancheros wore had big wheels with "bells" on
them, and spikes long enough to goad the thick skin of an elephant.
I formerly possessed one of the picturesque old saddles on which all
the leather work was engraved by hand, by the use of some tool like a
graver, probably a sharpened nail; consequently none of the designs was
duplicated.
In the good old cow days there were two sorts of saddles: the
"California Center Fire" and the "Texas Double Chinch," and all those
that I remember seeing had rather a short horn at the bow with a very
broad top sometimes covered with a silver plate; the seat was also much
longer than it is to-day.
Fig. 272 shows a military saddle which is a modified cowboy saddle, and
Fig. 274 shows a comparatively modern cowboy saddle. The up-to-date
saddle of to-day has a bulge in front, not shown on the diagram.
In the olden days there were no societies for the prevention of cruelty
to animals, and on the ranges horses were plenty; therefore, when one
of the long-haired plainsmen, with his long rifle in front of him
on the long saddle, and the heavy Spanish-American trappings to the
horse, killed the horse by overwork, he simply took off his saddle and
trappings, caught another horse, mounted it and continued his journey;
there were plenty of horses--why should he worry?
Later when the cowboy age came in, the cowboys themselves on the
Southern ranges used the Spanish-American outfit; the only blessing
the poor horse had was the blanket under the saddle.
[Illustration: 272 (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, P, S, T), 273, 274
(M, N, O), 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285
PACK TRAIN OUTFIT]
When the block wooden stirrups were abandoned and the thinner oval
stirrups adopted, the latter were protected by long caps of leather,
the dangling ends of which were silver tipped. The cowboys themselves
wore heavy leather breeches called chaps (an abbreviation of the
Spanish chaparejo). Thus with the feet and legs protected they could
ride through the cactus plants and dash through the mesquite country
without fear of being pricked by the thorns, no matter what happened to
the horse. Not only did this leather armor protect them from thorns and
branches, but it also prevented many a broken leg resulting from kicks
by burros, mules and horses.
The rolled coat or blanket, which the bronco busters on the lower
ranges in early times lashed across the horse in front of their seat,
is the thing from which the bucking roll was evolved, and the buckskin
bucking roll, we are told, is the daddy of the swell or bulged front
saddle now used.
The old-fashioned cowboy saddle has a narrow front, but about two
decades ago
THE VIDALIA SADDLE-TREE
Migrated slowly from California over the plains, and was the first
one to show the bulged front, and to change the narrow bow of the cow
saddle to the bluff bow of the saddle as used to-day. It is claimed
that while this protects the rider from injuries more or less, it has
a tendency not to give a fellow the opportunity of as firm a grip with
his legs as did the old narrow bowed cowboy seat. Later, in Oregon,
they began to manufacture "incurved saddles," so that the rider's legs
could fit better under the front, and the Wyoming saddle makers caught
the idea, so that to-day the vanishing race of cowboys are using
saddles, which it would have taken a brave man to straddle in the early
days, not because the saddle is dangerous but because it would have
looked funny to the old-time boys, and they would not have been slow in
giving expression to boisterous and discomforting merriment.
It is an odd thing, this law of growth or evolution, and it _is a law_,
and a fixed law, certain peculiarities go together; for instance, if
one goes systematically to work to produce fan-tail pigeons, one finds
that he is also producing pigeons with feathered legs. The breeders
have also discovered that in producing a chicken with silky white
feathers they unwillingly produce a fowl with black meat. What has
this got to do with saddles? Only that the same law holds good here:
the more the front bulges in the saddle the more the horns shrivel,
developing a tendency to rake forward and upward; the stirrups also
dwindle in size. The saddle, which the writer possessed, has stirrups
made of iron rings covered with leather and the caps were lined with
sheep's wool. We read that now the narrow half-round oval stirrup
is a favorite with the cow-punchers, which the cowboy uses with his
foot thrust all the way in so that the weight of the rider rests upon
the middle of the foot. This is as disturbing to the European idea
of "proper form" as was the Declaration of Independence, but the
Declaration of Independence has proved its efficiency by its results;
so also has it been proved that for those who ride all day long the
nearer they can come to standing on their feet, and at the same time
relieving the feet of the total weight of the body by resting it on
the saddle, the easier it is to stay in the saddle for long stretches
of time; in other words, the more comfortable the saddle, the longer
one can occupy it without discomfort, and that is the reason a saddle
should fit the rider.
WITH WESTERN HORSES
One must use Western ways; remember the horses were educated in the
West if you were not, but it is not necessary to use the cruel, old
jaw-breaking Spanish bits with a ring on them. I have one, but it only
hangs on the studio wall as a souvenir and a curious object of torture.
But don't try a straight bit on a Western horse; he may spit it out and
laugh at you; use the modern Western bits, saddles, and cinch and you
will not go far wrong. Of course
THE PACK HORSE
Is another proposition, for here you will need a pack sawbuck saddle
(Figs. 276, 277, 278 and 279); over this saddle you can swing your two
saddle bags, called alforjas (Fig. 283). Fig. 284 is after Stewart
Edward White's diagram, and shows how the alforjas are lashed fast
to the horse's back with a latigo (Fig. 285). Fig. 280 is the lash
rope which the man above Fig. 284 is using. In Chapter VII we tell
how to throw the diamond hitch. Fig. 282 shows the cowboy favorite
cooking utensil, the old Dutch oven, and it is practically the same
model as the one once belonging to Abraham Lincoln. A glance at the
cross-section of the cover shows you how the edges are dented in to
hold the hot ashes heaped on top of it when the bake oven is being
used. Fig. 281 is a sketch of two essentials for any sort of a trip: an
axe and a frying pan.
Of course, one could write a whole book on horseback work, saddles and
pack saddles. The truth is that one could write a whole book on any
subject or any chapter in this book. But my aim is to start you off
right; I believe that the way to learn to do a thing IS TO DO IT, and
not depend upon your book knowledge. Therefore, when I write a book for
you boys, I do the best I know how to make you understand what I am
talking about, and to excite in your mind and heart a desire to do the
things talked of; you must remember, however, that no one ever could
learn to skate from a school of correspondence or a book, but one could
gain a great deal of useful knowledge about anything from a useful
book, knowledge that will be of great help when one is trying to do the
things treated of in the book.
I can tell you with the aid of diagrams how to pack a blanket, and you
can follow my diagrams and pack your blanket; but in order to ride,
skate, swim or dance, you must gain the skill by practice. A book,
however, can tell you the names of the part of the things.
NAMES OF PARTS OF SADDLE
For instance (Fig. 272), T is the saddle-tree; a good saddle-tree is
made of five stout pieces of cottonwood which are covered with rawhide;
when the rawhide shrinks it draws the pieces together more tightly
and perfectly than they could be fastened by tongue and groove, glue,
screws or nails; in fact, it makes one solid piece of the whole. The
horn is fastened on to the tree by its branched legs, and covered with
leather or braided rawhide. The shanks are covered first and then
attached to the tree and the thongs are tacked to the saddle-tree,
after which the bulged cover is fitted on. When a good saddle-tree is
finished it is as much one piece as is the pelvis of a skeleton.
P is the pummel, A is the cantle. S is the side bar of the saddle-tree,
C is a quarter strap side, B is the quarter strap cantle, E is the
stirrup buckle, F is the outer strap safe, G is the cincha ring, H is
the cincha cover; the cincha strap is unlettered but it connects the
cincha ring with the quarter strap ring D; J is the cap or leather
stirrup cover, L is the wooden stirrup, K is the horsehair cincha.
Fig. 275 is one of the saddle pads to fit under the saddle. On Fig.
274M is the horn, N the cantle, O the whang leather, which your saddler
will call tie strings.
You will note that in Fig. 274 there are two cinchas, and in Fig. 272
but one. You will also note that in Fig. 274 the skirt of your saddle
seems to be double, or even triple, and the stirrup rigging comes on
top of the skirt, and this is made up of the back jockey, front jockey,
and side jockey or seat. Now then, you know all about horseback; there
is nothing more I can tell you about the pack horse, but remember not
to swell up with pride because of your vast knowledge, and try to ride
an outlaw horse with an Eastern riding school bit. But acknowledge
yourself a tenderfoot, a short horn, a shavetail, a Cheechako, and ask
your Western friends to let you have a horse that knows all the tricks
of his trade, but who has a compassionate heart for a greenhorn. There
are lots of such good fellows among the Western horses, and they will
treat you kindly. I know it because I have tried them, and as I said
before, I make no boast of being a horseman myself. When I get astride
of a Western horse I lean over and whisper in his ear, and confess to
him just how green I am, and then put him on his honor to treat me
white, and so far he has always done so.