Many a cowboy earning $30.00 a month has spent three times that sum on his saddle alone.  More than one man earning $25.00 a month has invested every cent of his salary in silver buckles for his strange looking hat.  Equally extravagant is the average man as to his saddle, bridle, and even spurs and bit.  Those who talk so much about the bad habits of these people, will hardly credit the fact that many a cowboy abstains from liquor and tobacco for an entire year at a stretch, simply because he wants to purchase some article of attire, which he thinks will make him the envy of the entire ranch.

The cow pony is worthy of as much attention and thought as the cowboy.  It is often said that the latter is hard and cruel, and that he uses his pony roughly.  This is far from being correct.  Between the cowboy and his pet pony there is generally a bond of sympathy and a thorough understanding, without which the marvelous feats of horsemanship which are performed daily would be impossible.  Perhaps in the preliminary breaking in of the pony there is more roughness than is quite necessary.  At the same time, it should be remembered that to subdue an animal which was born on the prairie and has run wild to its heart’s content, is not a very simple matter.  The habit of bucking, which a Texas pony seems to inherit from its ancestors, is a very inconvenient one, and an expert rider from the East is perfectly helpless upon the back of a bucking pony.  The way in which he mounts assures the animal at once that he is a stranger in those parts.  A natural desire to unseat the daring stranger becomes paramount, and the pony proceeds to carry out the idea.

At first it moves quietly and the rider congratulates himself on having convinced the animal that resistance will be ill vain.  But just as he begins to do this the animal gets down its head, arches up its back, something after the manner of an angry cat, leaps into the air and comes down on the ground with its four legs drawn together under it, perfectly stiff and straight.  The rider seldom knows how it happened.  He only knows that it felt as though a cannon ball had struck him, and that he fell off most ungracefully.

A pony never bucks viciously when a cowboy is riding it.  It has learned by long experience that the process is distinctly unprofitable.  Breaking in a pony and convincing it that the way of the transgressor is hard, is one of the difficulties of prairie life.  When, however, it is once accomplished, an almost invaluable assistant has been secured.  The staying powers of the cow pony are almost without limit.  He will carry his master 100 miles in a day, apparently with very little fatigue.  In point of speed he may not be able to compete with his better bred Eastern cousin, but in point of distance covered he entirely outclasses him.  Assuming an easy gait within its powers of endurance, a pony of the prairie will keep it up almost indefinitely.  At the end of a very long ride, the man is generally more fatigued than his steed.  The latter, after being relieved of its saddle and bridle, rolls vigorously to get rid of the stiffness, and, after an hour or two, is apparently in as good condition as ever.