These
bold, and, we may add, lawless cavaliers were mounted on the finest
horses that could be procured from Barbary and the deserts of the Old
World. The poor Indians of the New World were struck with amazement
and terror at these awful beings, for, never having seen horses
before, they believed that horse and rider were one animal. During the
wars that followed many of the Spaniards were killed, and their
steeds bounded into the wilds of the new country, to enjoy a life of
unrestrained freedom. These were the forefathers of the present race
of magnificent creatures which are found in immense droves all over
the western wilderness, from the Gulf of Mexico to the confines of the
snowy regions of the far north.
At first the Indians beheld these horses with awe and terror, but
gradually they became accustomed to them, and finally succeeded in
capturing great numbers and reducing them to a state of servitude.
Not, however, to the service of the cultivated field, but to the
service of the chase and war. The savages soon acquired the method of
capturing wild horses by means of the lasso--as the noose at that end
of a long line of raw hide is termed--which they adroitly threw over
the heads of the animals and secured them, having previously run them
down.
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