SADDLE AND PACK EQUIPMENT
The riding saddle should be a double cinch, horn saddle, with
wool-lined skirts and of ample weight to hold its position. My own is
a regular stock saddle weighing thirty-five pounds, though for all
ordinary use a twenty-five- or thirty-pound saddle will do just as well.
I prescribe the horn saddle because of its convenience. One may sling
upon it a camera, binoculars or other articles in frequent demand,
and when it becomes necessary to lead a pack pony the lead rope
may be attached to it. For this latter purpose the horn is indeed
indispensable.
In the light of personal experience with both single and double cinch
saddles, I recommend the latter unhesitatingly, particularly for
mountain work. In steep ascents or descents it will not slide, while a
single cinch saddle is certain to do so no matter how tightly cinched,
and this shifting will sooner or later gall the horse's back. In
Mexico the single cinch saddle is almost universally used, but who ever
saw a Mexican's horse that was free from saddle sores? The forward
cinch should preferably be a hair cinch, though the ordinary webbed
sort, both forward and rear, does well enough.
The saddle blanket should be a thick, good quality wool blanket. In
Arizona Navajo saddle blankets are popular, and they are undoubtedly
the best when obtainable. A hair saddle pad or corona, shaped to the
animal's back and used in connection with the blanket, is a pretty good
insurance against galling, and preferable to the felt pad, for it is
cooler.
A leather boot for rifle, and saddle bags for toilet articles, note
books and odds and ends, bridle, halter rope, a pair of cowboy spurs
with large blunt rowels, and a quirt to tickle delinquent pack horses
will be needed. The rifle boot has two sling straps. The usual method
of carrying it is to insert it between the stirrup leathers on the
near side, drop the sling strap at the top of the boot over the saddle
pommel and buckle the sling strap at the bottom of the boot into the
rear latigo ring. By detaching the latter sling from the boot before
buckling it to the ring, the boot may be removed from or attached to
the saddle by simply lifting the forward sling strap over the pommel,
without unbuckling. In case the sling strap at the top of the boot be
placed too far down, it should be shifted higher up and secured to the
boot with a leather loop which may be riveted to the boot.
[Illustration: METHOD OF SLINGING LOAD ON APAREJO
(FIG. 1.) Rope is doubled and loop A thrown over horse's back to off
side.
N. B.--In this and the following diagrams the pack is represented as
spread out flat and viewed from above.]
For the pack animals the ordinary cross-tree or sawbuck pack saddle is
the most practical pack saddle for all-around use, though the aparejo,
used by the army and generally throughout Mexico, is superior to the
sawbuck when unwieldy packages of irregular size and shape are to be
transported. Such packages must frequently be transported by army
trains and they are the rule rather than the exception in Mexico, where
freighting throughout wide regions must be done wholly on the backs of
animals.
[Illustration: (FIG. 2.) Packs are now lifted into place and off packer
brings loop A up around off side pack to top of load. Near packer
passes end B through loop A and ties ends B and C together with square
knot. Balance or "break" the packs and load is ready for hitch.]
The aparejo is of Arabian origin, and the Spaniards, who adopted it
from the Moors, introduced it into Mexico. In Mexico there are two
types of the aparejo in common use. One made usually of the fiber of
_henequen_, which is woven into pockets which are stuffed with grass,
to form the pads, is used on donkeys in comparatively light packing;
in the other type the pad casing is made of Mexican tanned leather
instead of _henequen_ matting but also stuffed with grass. This is used
in heavier packing with mules, in transporting machinery and supplies
to mines and merchandise to inland settlements.
The cross-tree or sawbuck, however, is used almost exclusively in
the United States by forest rangers, cowboys, prospectors and pack
travelers generally, and it is to this type of pack saddle that we
shall direct our attention chiefly. It may be interesting to note
that this is a very ancient type of pack saddle, of Asiatic origin.
It consists of two saddle boards connected near each end--front and
rear--by two cross-pieces, the pommel and cantle forming a miniature
sawbuck, while the saddle boards are similar in shape to the McClellan
saddle tree. This is fitted with breeching, quarter straps, breast
strap, latigos and cinch. As in the case of the riding saddle, the
sawbuck pack saddle should be supplied with the double cinch. Care
should be taken that the saddle fits the animal for which intended. A
saddle either too wide or too narrow will be certain to cause a sore
back.
Each pack saddle should be accompanied by a heavy woolen saddle
blanket, which should be folded into three or four thicknesses, for
here even greater protection is necessary than with the riding saddle,
for the animal is to carry a dead weight.
The preferable method of carrying supplies with the sawbuck pack saddle
is with kyacks, basket panniers or the _alforjas_, though with sling
and lash ropes any sort of a bundle may be slung upon it.
When they can be obtained, kyacks of indestructible fiber stand first
for preference. These are usually from twenty-two to twenty-four inches
wide, seventeen or eighteen inches high and about nine inches deep, and
are fitted with heavy leather loops for slinging on the saddle. Unless
the horse is a large one, the narrower, or twenty-two inch, should be
selected.
Basket panniers of similar size are lighter but not so well adapted to
hard usage, and are more expensive.
The alforjas is constructed of heavy duck and leather, and of the same
dimensions as the kyack. They are much cheaper than either panniers or
kyacks, and are therefore more commonly used. Any outfitter can supply
them. They are slung upon the saddle in the same manner as kyacks. A
pair of the type decided upon will be required for each animal.
The next requirement is a half-inch lash rope. This should be at least
thirty-three, but preferably forty feet in length. In some respects a
cotton rope is preferable to one of hemp, though the latter is more
commonly used, and regulations prescribe it for army pack trains.
A good broad cinch should be provided, fitted with a ring on one end to
which is attached the lash or lair rope and a cinch hook on the other
end.
There should be a pair of hobbles for each animal, and a blind to put
upon obstreperous pack animals when slinging and lashing the load.
These may be purchased throughout the West at almost any village store.
It is well also to carry a bell, which should always be strapped around
the neck of one of the horses when the animals are hobbled and turned
loose to graze.
It will sometimes be necessary to picket one of the animals, and for
this purpose fifty or sixty feet of half or five-eighth inch rope will
be required. Also sufficient leading rope should be provided for each
pack animal, and a halter rope for the saddle horse. A lariat carried
upon the saddle pommel will be found useful in a dozen ways, and may be
utilized for picketing horses.
All horses should be "slick" shod; that is, shod with uncalked shoes.
The shoes should be of soft iron, not so light as to render them liable
to bend before they are worn out, and they should not extend beyond the
hoof at side or rear. Some extra shoes of proper size for each animal,
a horseshoer's nippers, rasp, hammer and some nails should be included
in the equipment.