The cowhand raced to save the distressed maiden, he leapt from his trusty steed, and ground tied him, as whistling lead and the smell of gun powder filled the air.
I made that up, but did recently finish reading books by two different authors, where the hero ground tied his horse under all conditions- they ground tied so much I got tired of waiting for the horse to run off. Things that I have read, and or tried with ground tying indicate the cowboy may need hiking boots instead of cowboy boots if he ground ties too much.
Much like the cowboys that loop the reins around the hitching post in the old movies, horses will shy and get the heck out of Dodge if too much action and noise starts. Heck my pick-up doesn’t like to stick around if things get to wild-------but I do.
I like well researched western reads, not sure these writers had spent much time around horses. Too bad, one of them was fast paced and fun.
Wyoming Writer Historian & Photographer
5 comments:
Once I ground tied a horse with a new trainer. He looked at me and said, "why are you putting the reins down there, no ones down there to hold that horse but the devil."
For some reason the practice of ground tying is almost universal in early westerns. Aren't horses supposed to be smarter than that?
Seems to me it would be like ground tying a dog. I hate walking and ground tying might put your feet on the ground with the reins.
Now c`mon guys! The idea is this: The horse was originally trained to stand still, after the Cowboy lassoooooooed!!!! his cow. The horse with the end of the lariat tied to the saddle horn, would stay still. The cowboys also trained the horse to stand still, upon the dropping of the reins. the weight of the reins hanging down, is the que for the horse to remain still. As is the weight of the rein against the side of the horses neck, to indicate the direction the horse should go. ie, right rein on right side of neck? Horse goes left!
I thought you guys were up to the mark? .....However, in reality, when the horse was starled, it would bugger off!!!!! Thats a flight creature for ya!
Hmm, just listening close and paying attention.
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