Page:Natural History (1848).djvu/178

168 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 set 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.

"The Gauchos are well known to be perfect riders: the idea of being thrown, let the horse do what it likes, never enters their head: their criterion of a good rider is a man who can manage an untamed colt, or who, if his horse falls, alights on his own feet, or can perform other such exploits. I have heard of a man betting that he would throw his horse down twenty times, and that nineteen out of these he would not fall himself. I recollect seeing a Gaucho riding a very stubborn horse, which three times reared so excessively high as to, fall backwards with great violence. The man judged with uncommon coolness the proper moment for slipping off, not an instant before or after the right time. Directly the horse rose, the man jumped on his back, and at last they started at a gallop. The Gaucho never appears to exert any muscular force. I was one day watching a good rider, as we were galloping along at a rapid pace, and thought to myself, surely, if the horse starts, you appear so careless on your seat you must fall. At this moment a male ostrich sprang from its nest right beneath the horse’s nose. The young colt bounded on one side like a stag; but as for the man all that could be said was, that he started and took fright as part of his horse."