Catching the Wild Horse

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Indians on foot and horseback capturing wild horses (Plate 4)."Taking the wild horse and breaking him down is one of the proudest feats of the Indian and requires the sudden rallying and desperate use of all his manly faculties and even with the complete exhaustion of all these he is often compelled to relinquish his pursuit in despair. The most frequent mode of catching the horse is by throwing the lasso from the back of a horse at full speed as is seen in the distant part of this picture and by choking the animal down as is seen in the group in the foreground. For this desperate feat, the Indian prepares his lasso, which is a braided thong made of raw hide fifteen or twenty yards in length and coiled upon his left arm, with a noose at the end of it which when he throws out its coil drops over the horse's neck. This done, by holding back upon the other end of the lasso, or by having it fastened to the girth of his own horse, he gradually tightens it upon his running victim's neck until its speed is materially checked by the stoppage of its breath. He then dismounts and leaves his riding horse balancing on his feet as he is dragged along by this strangling prize, until it falls from exhaustion."