A Horse Called Mogollon (Floating Outfit Book 3) by J.T. Edson

stallion from travelling at any speed.
    Already the more
experienced mestenero duos had completed the application of their first sarprimas and moved on to the
next horse they had selected for treatment. Allowing the brown to
walk away, Dusty picked out and roped a washy bay. The hooley-ann
head-catch fell with an equal precision to his first attempt.
Ensnared by the Kid’s mangana throw, the horse went down. However, the sarprima was not applied by
the team.
    ‘ Hey,
Jeanie-gal!’ called the Kid. ‘Take a look at this here
sorry-looking critter Dusty’s catched.’
    Joining the speaker, the girl
agreed with his opinion of the horse. Cow-hocked, long-backed and
with its legs ‘coming out of the same hole’ in its narrow chest, the
horse had a very poor conformation.
    ‘ He’s
no use,’ Jeanie declared. ‘We couldn’t even sell him to you OD
Connected yahoos. Turn him loose until we’re through.’
    The work of applying the sarprimas continued. Not all
the horses accepted the treatment with docility. There were several
narrow escapes as members of the mustanging party had to leap or
dart clear of lashing hooves and snapping teeth. Dusty came close
to having to shoot one stallion, more determined than its
companions to make mischief. However, Carlos’ and Bernardo’s ropes
augmented his own and the Kid’s. Between them, the four men
enforced their will on the recalcitrant mustang and strapped up its
leg. Being released, it attempted to carry on the dispute. It
tripped and the force of the fall knocked all the aggression from
it.
    Roped by Colin, a coyote-dun
horse refused to rear and allow Felix to use the mangana. Instead, it advanced
and backed away with all four hooves close to the ground. Its
tactics availed it nothing. Coming in from the left instead
of at the
front, Felix demonstrated the difference between a mangana and a fore-footing
throw.
    Out sailed the short,
leathery-faced mestenero’s rope. The medium-sized loop passed over the stallion’s
right shoulder and a little ahead of it, in a position to accept
both front feet as it moved forward. Giving an inwards twist to the
stem of the rope, Felix made it flip to the rear and caused the
loop to rise, striking against the horse’s knees. A jerk on the
stem completed the throw and brought the coyote-dun down. Giving it
no time to recover. Felix dashed in and fastened on the sarprima.
    About to cast a loop at a
passing dark brown horse, Bernardo noticed its splayed feet,
ewe-neck and signs of age. Such a decrepit-looking animal would be
of no use to any buyer, so he did not waste his
team ’s time
by catching it.
    At last, with the sun sinking
towards the western horizon, the work was completed. Twenty-four
stallions hobbled slowly in the grip of their sarprimas and five others were driven from
the caracol to resume their freedom. The five had been discarded as too
old or mediocre to be of use.
    ‘ Whooee!’ Jeanie breathed, watching the rejected horses
racing away. ‘I’m not sorry that’s over.’
    ‘ Or
me,’ Colin admitted, slipping an arm about her waist and squeezing
it gently. ‘Hey, Lon. How about you and I standing the first watch?
We Scots and Indians are better able to accept hardships than the
lesser peoples of the world.’
    ‘ Seeing’s you put it that way, I’m on,’ answered the Kid.
‘Only it’s Injuns and Scots.’
    ‘ Come
on, Jeanie, mesteneros,’ Dusty called. ‘Let’s get going before these pair of blasted
heathens stomp up a war-dance.’
    Although Jeanie had hoped that
Colin would ride back to the camp with her, she raised no
objections. A guard would have to be set on the corral until
morning. The horses could not be moved before the next day, so
required watching over to protect them from human beings or
prowling predatory animals. Colin always took his share of such duties, so
Jeanie read no special significance in his suggestion.
    ‘ Don’t
you pair let anybody sneak them away from you,’ the girl