Lack of demand was discouraging to most ranchmen, and our range
was glutted with heavy steer cattle.
The first spring work of any importance was gathering the horses to fill
a contract we had with Captain Byler. Previous to the herd which Deweese
had sold and delivered at Fort Worth the year before, our horse stock
had amounted to about four thousand head. With the present sale the
ranch holdings would be much reduced, and it was our intention to retain
all _manadas_ used in the breeding of mules. When we commenced gathering
we worked over every one of our sixty odd bands, cutting out all the
fillies and barren mares. In disposing of whole _manadas_ we kept only
the geldings and yearlings, throwing in the old stallions for good
measure, as they would be worthless to us when separated from their
harems. In less than a week's time we had made up the herd, and as they
were all in the straight 'horse hoof' we did not road-brand them. While
gathering them we put them under day and night herd, throwing in five
_remudas_ as we had agreed, but keeping back the bell mares, as they
were gentle and would be useful in forming new bands of saddle horses.
The day before the appointed time for the delivery, the drover brought
up saddle horses and enough picked mares to make his herd number fifteen
hundred.
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