COWBOY TRICKS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18753, 5 January 1923, Page 7

COWBOY TRICKS

WRESTLING WITH STEERS. Some wonderful tricks were demonsirated'* by cowboys at A.“rodeo” held in Madisonr',-. Square Gardens, New York, in October. It lasted for a, week, and drew immens* > crowds, tho entertainment being' under tho auspices of the Argcnne Association oi-» Aineriea. -' '■’[!' A rodeo is an exhibition of cowpunchers* :, i sports, the fancy riding and roping thtftf marked the expert in the days when ranges wore not fenced and the West WM" void and woolly (says a writer in the Now -. York Times). There wasn't anything either*:; wild or woolly about this rodeo, but ithad” its exciting moments, particularly whettr., men were wrestling steers or trying mount a barebacked horse running in, a-j herd, which produced some bad falls and | no riding. . : , But the steer wrestling, or hull-doggingj-'J o> tho cowpunchers call it. was the major'4' sport of the afternoon, and produced the 1 “most excitement in the little gallery of j riders, men and women, who perched in back row of tho arena seats. MUNCHED CANDY AND YIELDED' ■ i ENCOURAGEMENT. {■ T.ct it not be thought,. either, that cow-* > girls are either wild or woolly. Their cos*'r tomes rivalled that of any circus lady wher'-h ever pirouetted on horseback, and them was one among them who between cries.' '' of “Ride him, Billy,” and shrill “yips; Ufe examined tho ridtis with professional cafaLthrough a geld lorgnette. And she wore VC polo coat that might have graced Meadow-:t brook. _ _ They are the elite of the West, these.-( riders, men and women who go to all the '' rodeos there are and win big prizes- of:, money. "■'l “There are riders in that crowd that I ain’t fit to carry a rope to,” said Will J Rogers, and ho ought to know, for he was 1: 4 a puncher many years. ■ ■ ‘"i The calf roping, which grew to be aft) sport, out of the necessity of marking timani in the spring round-ups when the calves*", wove granded, was the first opportunity the riders had to show what speed they; could make at their trade. One by oner the little bull calves were let out; of the ; pen. each with a lariat-swinging rider be*"’hind him. When lucky the loop over the calf's head, the rider slipped <4lll his horse as it stopped, and he grabbed* 4 ! tho calf's legs and threw it on the ground,*-; _ with many pretestant bleats. Then tiLswil legs were quickly tied so it could not get*--up. S.P.C.A. PROTEST. This was the part of the exhibition! • against winch the Society for the Provo tion of Cruelty to Animals protested. They threatened to prevent it, but when twelve • officers of the society entered the Garden, they were served l with an injunction issued by Supreme Court Justice Robert F. Wag--., her, which restrained tiietn from interfere*: i ing. The writ also restrained the Humanav, Society and Ihe Police Department frominterfering. Although the calves som©timea> > went down with a bump, they did not seem.- 1 to mind any more than a football player.'- i when tackled successfully. _ There were several bad falls in the brpnoi riding, and a few of the horses seemed to j be in ihe outlaw class. There was one whothrew’ his rider in two jumps, and went up . tho arena head down and heels in the air,, bellowing with' rage in a way that most> u of those present never heard before. Horses in this part of the country don’t act Uiahi way after they throw (heir rider. DynAr._-, mite proved true to his name when Jacks,,, Coates tried to stay on him, and Coate} tt lifted-himself from tho tanbark groggy and with his shirt up under his arms. Bonny., Bay was so bonnie she threw Jack Smithy: in a jiffy. ■ Raj' Bell stuck to Pinto Pete,4 however, and with a few other riders rey, deemed (he afternoon. ARENA FULL OF BELLOWS AND . DUST. Then came the bulldoggers, and for morad than half an hour tho arena was full off bellows and dust. The rider was supposed I ', to ride alongside the fast-travelling steer : as he came from the chute and then drop'j from his horse, grab the steer by the horns;': and throw him. .Sometimes he did /ini' sometimes the rider landed on his ear the tanbark. Tho steer frequently had Ih’di best of it There was a little red-heatfedf man with a green sweater, whoso name waif lost in the confusion, who was a demon at) ;■ buildoggiug, even though ho didn’t niakei ; | the best time. Ho leaped from his horse, throwing himself forward and hitting tho« steer with his body before he grasped the" horns. Hi.s feet came down in a cloud o£ , dust os the steer stopped, and GrecnsweateF: swarmed all over him. He got a -hom ' between his legs -and with a long, slcnr- j wrench pulled the animal to its knees,_ and 1 ”; then to the tanbark, while some exceedingly j.' staid persons in boxes made loud noises of t J approval. Many a man dived for his steer and rolledf over and over, coming to his feet to find*, tho steer glaring at him. Only a swift rußiU to tho side and a climb up the fencoij? saved the cowpunchers from buying a. noW.f; pair of trousers. For the steers wandered 1; round after being released, occasionally iiislc- 1 -)’ ing a run, head down, at groups of men f waiting for their turn, and the cowpunchers"-; swarmed up the fences or flopped on their ,4 faces under the horns. The fastest time was made by Frank M’Curroll, of Boise, who threw his steec in 40 seconds from tho time it came, out,; and then politely helped the steer up by; ; one horn. Politeness ended there, foeMUarroll look to his heels. Riding steers was just about as exciting as throwing them, for a man was permitted to use one hand lo hold on, and sometmio4'-i that wasn’t enough. WILD HORSE RACE. • -*■ The most dangerous sport of the day w«p--the last, the wild horse race. About 2frhorses were turned loose in the arena, baxey-t backed and without a bridle or headpiece. Men tried to mount them as they ran and .; change from one horse to another, the first*one to do so to be the winner. Nobody., won but the horses. Getting into the crowd was dangerous,-,-Nobody "tried to vault on a horse near front of the herd, or a spill would havfs] meant a bad trampling and perhaps deaths So they tried it from the rear, at th#, moment when the horses slowed down ja turning. Several times a man got a gap-.*.' on a mane, swung a leg and seemed. Bbou(f,v to succeed when he was rolled off under.Hlft ’ flying feet and disappeared in a cloud, eftfiy, dust, to come up badly rumpled and limptj; - ing: Groonsweatcr was in this as if ho ■ loved it, but the most he got on a .feorset ; was one iqg. '