Horse vs. 18 men in tug-of-war - GIF

[Philip Davies]

I see he burnt his finger. But, never having seen this done, it is extraordinarily impressive. I remember, as a child, trying to lasso, following comic book depictions. That the rider’s pony can stand the shock is astonishing to me. Does the rope not part sometimes? I can imagine blindness as well as lost fingers!

[Frank S]

I see he burnt his finger. But, never having seen this done, it is extraordinarily impressive. I remember, as a child, trying to lasso, following comic book depictions. That the rider’s pony can stand the shock is astonishing to me. Does the rope not part sometimes? I can imagine blindness as well as lost fingers!

In stop action it appears that he lost most of his little finger.
Any wranglers I've met would not have attempted to lasso an animal of that size running past at speed while their mount was standing still. The risk of injury to their mount themselves and the animal being captured is too great, compiled with the probable damage to their equipment. I know his thoughts were to use a loop of the lariat around the saddle horn for enough resistance to allow him to halt the running horse allowing his lariat to slip slowly through his hand, but there are a lot of problems with a maneuver such as that. Personal injury as he found out, or the lariat could have fouled on the horn, at best it would have snapped. At worst it could have injured the captured horse by choking it or possibly even breaking its neck, the saddle horn could have broken off, highly unlikely for a well made saddle, The mount could have had his right fore leg injured or even broken when the full force or the running steed jerked it off balance the cinch of the saddle could have broken causing rider and saddle to fall to the ground and be dragged by the horse. A western saddle has the cinch located further back than English saddles, this allows for better holding but also in an extreme circumstance if jerked hard enough can cause internal organ damage.
All in all there were so many things that could have gone wrong in an attempt such as in the video I don't even like to think about it

[Philip Davies]

Thank you for this, Frank. Since this is not something we ever see, it’s good to have a clear account of the action.

[Frank S]

Thank you for this, Frank. Since this is not something we ever see, it’s good to have a clear account of the action.

Growing up on a working farm, my cousins would be far better at giving an explanation then I ever could. About the only thing I did with horses was to ride a fence line looking for breaks to be repaired or clearing brush away from it. For my 6 cousins though it was almost a daily routine a few months out of the year. They would be the first to tell anyone that competing in professional rodeos are for those who don't have enough work to do. I would go so far as to say going to a rodeo as a spectator is poor way to learn what is involved on a working farm or ranch. A couple of my cousins used to go on an annual government Mustang round up. this was to cull the weak and diseased wild horses from the rest if possible in an effort to prevent diseases from spreading. and to capture a few wild horses for adoption some of my Uncles horses were born in the wild. Don and Derald would tell of how it could take hours of chasing a particular pony then as many as 3 or 4 ropes thrown by riders riding at full speed along side before the horse could be brought to a halt.
It made sense to me, the old unstoppable force and the immovable object came to mind somethings got to give,