BRONCOS
Several people not familiar with horses have asked me what a
bronco-buster means, and they seem to think all cowboys are bronco
riders, which is not so. I sometimes talk to an old-timer that once rode
broncs and broke horses, and like most all old-timers in every line of
work they claim the younger generation cannot compete with them the way
they did it in their day. But the old boys are only kidding themselves
when they think those young fellows can’t ride a bucking horse. They
have made a profession of it and keep in practice. Another thing, the
old-tuners never flanked a horse like they do in contest today—that’s
putting a strap around his kidneys and cinching it up to make him
buck—and it does make him buck harder than without it. He gets in a
twist when he is up off the ground. That the horses of the old days
never did. I have been judge at several bucking contests and shows and I
would venture to say that no old-timer could ever have rode those horses
with that rigging on him without first getting used to it.
Another thing, in the old days of the range the good riders tried to
keep their horse from bucking, whereas today they train and teach them
to buck for the shows. So naturally the horse and rider have more
practice.
There is a great difference between a bronc-rider and a horse-breaker,
or a regular cowboy—and still they are classed as the same by a great
many people. Not saying anything against the modern bronc-rider, but all
he knows about a horse is to ride him while he bucks. I have seen some
the best riders that didn’t have any idea what a horse should do after
he quit bucking, from the fact he saddles him in a chute and gets on him
in there—then he is let out and the skill he uses is to stay on that
horse a few seconds until the whistle is blown by the time-keeper and
the horse is caught by the pick-up man—and many a time that whistle has
saved many a boy when he was all in. But the poor bronc-fighter has a
hard time at best. He has plenty of competition and they can’t all win
and most of them, if they follow it long enough, wind up broken
physically and financially. So the old saying still goes ... “all it
takes to make a good bronc-buster is a strong back and a weak mind” ...
as all it requires is plenty courage and practice.
But a good horse-breaker really does something. He uses intelligence and
studies the disposition of his horse, as every one is different and
requires different methods—and I wouldn’t attempt to say which is the
best. Some cowboys are natural horsemen and seemingly without taking
very much pains get wonderful results, while the other fellow will try
ever so hard and never get nowhere.
Nearly every state has a different way of starting a young horse. In
Montana the first thing we did with a wild horse was to catch him by the
front feet and throw him down, and take one hind leg away from him by
tying it up so he can’t touch the ground with it (that way he can’t hurt
you or himself). He stands on three legs and if he tries to kick or
fight he usually falls down. After a few falls he will stand and let you
rub him all over his body and legs, and you can saddle and unsaddle him
until he finds he can’t get away from you and that you aren’t going to
hurt him. That was the system I used and I thought I got very good
results.
However, I have seen cowboys use a blindfold on a horse that worked very
well, too—using a soft piece of leather or a piece of cloth to put over
the horse’s eyes and in that way learned him to stand while they saddled
him and got on and off until he gets used to it. But I always preferred
the way of letting the horse see what was going on from the first
lesson.
But that is just a small part of breaking a horse. In the first place he
may have a notion of bucking no matter how careful you have been in
handling him, as there is no doubt some horses inherit those different
bad habits from their ancestors just like humans do, and if bucking
happens to be the favorite way of your horse’s showing his meanness, the
cowboy must be able to ride him, as every time a horse bucks his man off
he is getting that much nearer to being an outlaw. Then another
thing—seldom ever any two horses buck the same. One will have some
different twist from the other one. I have seen good riders get on a
horse that didn’t seem to buck so hard and would get throwed off. When I
used to ride, the hardest for me was one that bucked and whirled around
and around.
But the bucking is usually the small part of breaking a horse or at
least to make him valuable as a cow horse. Most horse-breakers first
start the horse with a hackamore and sometimes never put a bridle on him
for a couple of years and then sometimes he is not finished, depending
both on what kind of a horse and man they are.
I think in the early days in Wyoming and Montana they got much quicker
results with a horse, as they started working cattle with a young horse
as soon as a man could pull him around at all, and there is no doubt but
that is what makes a good horse. They are like people. One can read
forever about learning to do something and will never learn much until
they actually do the work themselves.
There is no doubt California turns out some of the best broke horses in
the world, but the breaking sometimes costs the owner as much as two
hundred dollars. So it can be readily seen that a big cow outfit like
they had a few years back, that had a couple of hundred saddle horses
and worked 25 or 30 men, couldn’t put in two years breaking a horse or
pay two hundred dollars to break him. Even at that I have seen just as
good, if not better, practical cow horses that never had that much time
or money spent on them—but they worked cattle every day during the six
months of the season—and I contend that’s what makes cow horses and
cowboys.
Another difference in the professional bronc-rider is he has his horse
in a chute to handle and saddle him, with plenty of help. The old-timer
had to rope his horse out of a bunch of horses and saddle him alone and
get on him without any help. Then maybe he would stampede, run over a
cut bank or fall down—and he had to be able to take care of himself.