Biography; Frontier and pioneer life -- Dakota Territory; Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
One raw, chilly morning, Roosevelt, who had been ordered to ride "the
outside circle," chose "Ben Butler" for his mount, because he knew the
horse was tireless and could stand the long, swift ride better than
any other pony he had. As Roosevelt mounted him, the horse reared and
fell over backward. He had done that before, but this time he fell on
his rider. Roosevelt, with a sharp pain in his shoulder, extricated
himself and mounted once more. But the horse now refused to go in any
direction, backward or forward.
Sylvane and George Myers threw their lariats about the bronco's neck,
and dragged him a few hundred yards, choking but stubborn, all four
feet firmly planted and pawing the ground. When they released the
ropes, "Ben Butler" lay down and refused to get up.
The round-up had started; there was no time to waste. Sylvane gave
Roosevelt his horse, Baldy, which sometimes bucked, but never went
over backwards, and himself mounted the now re-arisen "Ben Butler." To
Roosevelt's discomfiture, the horse that had given him so much trouble
started off as meekly as any farm-horse.
"Why," remarked Sylvane, not without a touch of triumph, "there's
nothing the matter with this horse. He's a plumb gentle horse."
But shortly after, Roosevelt noticed that Sylvane had fallen behind.
Then he heard his voice, in persuasive tones, "That's all right! Come
along!" Suddenly a new note came into his entreaties. "Here you! Go on
you! Hi, hi, fellows, help me out! He's laying on me!"
They dragged Sylvane from under the sprawling steed, whereupon
Sylvane promptly danced a war-dance, spurs and all, on the iniquitous
"Ben." Roosevelt gave up the attempt to take that particular bronco on
the round-up that day.
"By gollies," remarked "Dutch Wannigan" in later days, "he rode some
bad horses, some that did quite a little bucking around for us. I
don't know if he got throwed. If he did, there wouldn't have been
nothin' said about it. Some of those Eastern punkin-lilies now, those
goody-goody fellows, if they'd ever get throwed off you'd never hear
the last of it. He didn't care a bit. By gollies, if he got throwed
off, he'd get right on again. He was a dandy fellow."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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