he snubbed a steer with a sternness sufficient to send it rolling
heels over head. The high pommel, or "horn," steel-forged and
covered with cross braids of leather, served as anchor post for
this same steer, a turn of the rope about it accomplishing that
purpose at once. The saddle-tree forked low down over the pony's
back so that the saddle sat firmly and could not readily be
pulled off. The great broad cinches bound the saddle fast till
horse and saddle were practically one fabric. The strong wooden
house of the old heavy stirrup protected the foot from being
crushed by the impact of the herd. The form of the cow-saddle has
changed but little, although today one sees a shorter seat and
smaller horn, a "swell front" or roll, and a stirrup of open
"ox-bow" pattern.

The round-up was the harvest of the range. The time of the calf
round-up was in the spring after the grass had become good and
after the calves had grown large enough for the branding. The
State Cattle Association divided the entire State range into a
number of round-up districts. Under an elected round-up captain
were all the bosses in charge of the different ranch outfits sent
by men having cattle in the round-up. Let us briefly draw a
picture of this scene as it was.

Each cowboy would have eight or ten horses for his own use, for
he had now before him the hardest riding of the year. When the
cow-puncher went into the herd to cut out calves he mounted a
fresh horse, and every few hours he again changed horses, for
there was no horse which could long endure the fatigue of the
rapid and intense work of cutting. Before the rider stretched a
sea of interwoven horns, waving and whirling as the densely