wild young horses is driven into the corral, or large enclosure of
stakes, and the door is shut. We will suppose that one man alone has
to catch and mount a horse, which as yet had never felt bridle or
saddle. I conceive, except by a Gaucho, such a feat would be utterly
impracticable. The Gaucho picks out a full-grown colt; and as the
beast rushes round the circus he throws his lazo so as to catch both
the front legs. Instantly the horse rolls over with a heavy shock, and
whilst struggling on the ground, the Gaucho, holding the lazo tight,
makes a circle, so as to catch one of the hind legs just beneath the
fetlock, and draws it close to the two front legs: he then hitches the
lazo, so that the three are bound together. Then sitting on the
horse's neck, he fixes a strong bridle, without a bit, to the lower
jaw: this he does by passing a narrow thong through the eye-holes at
the end of the reins, and several times round both jaw and tongue. The
two front legs are now tied closely together with a strong leathern
thong, fastened by a slip-knot. The lazo, which bound the three
together, being then loosed, the horse rises with difficulty. The
Gaucho now holding fast the bridle fixed to the lower jaw, leads the
horse outside the corral. If a second man is present (otherwise the
trouble is much greater) he holds the animal's head, whilst the first
puts on the horsecloths and saddle, and girths the whole together.
During this operation, the horse, from dread and astonishment at thus
being bound round the waist, throws himself over and over again on the
ground, and, till beaten, is unwilling to rise. At last, when the
saddling is finished, the poor animal can hardly breathe from fear, and
is white with foam and sweat. The man now prepares to mount by
pressing heavily on the stirrup, so that the horse may not lose its
balance; and at the moment that he throws his leg over the animal's
back, he pulls the slip-knot binding the front legs, and the beast is
free. Some "domidors" pull the knot while the animal is lying on the
ground, and, standing over the saddle, allow him to rise beneath them.
The horse, wild with dread, gives a few most violent bounds, and then
starts off at full gallop: when quite exhausted, the man, by patience,
brings him back to the corral, where, reeking hot and scarcely alive,
the poor beast is let free. Those animals which will not gallop away,
but obstinately throw themselves on the ground, are by far the most
troublesome. This process is tremendously severe, but in two or three
trials the horse is tamed. It is not, however, for some weeks that the
animal is ridden with the iron bit and solid ring, for it must learn to
associate the will of its rider with the feel of the rein, before the
143