Scorpion - a Good Bad Horse

Scorpion A GOOD BAD HORSE written and illustrated by WILL JAMES. Firats published in 1936. INTRODUCTION: Scorpion wasn't a big horse, didnt weigh over a thousand pounds, and his narrow withers would hardly measure up to five feet. But thats just a guess, for no horse is ever measured in the cow country, not by size, only by what hes made of and what he might be good for. Scorpion, as the cowboy who started to break him named him, was an average-size range saddle horse, the right size for all-around range work, for rough country and mountains and for fast outside roping or cutting out, and if a man sat him like a rider and not like a pack, he could go circles around the big ger horses any place or time. The riders who eased themselves in the saddle on his back didnt set him like packs, they sat him as riders should and when Scorpion unwound and they hit the ground they bowed to him as riders would, when they could. But Scorpion did pack a human pack, not a cowboy nor a top rider, and how that come about is where this story comes in. Scorpion The horse round-up was once a year in that country, in the summer, when the young colts would be branded and geldings from three years old on up would be kept at the ranch pasture to be broke to ride or work, also others to be shipped out and sold. Scorpion was a well-developed five-year-old when the cowboy, Pete Leon, dabbed his rope on him for the first time, and even tho Pete had rode the rough off hundreds of tough broncs and got so he hardly seemed to notice their wild and wicked actions, he showed new interest at the first roping and handling of this chestnut. With the handling and riding of many different horses every day, day in and day out for many years, Pete had got so he could near tell at a glance what a broncs nature was, how he would act and how much of a fight thered be, and hed treat the horse according. After the fourth or fifth saddling he would name the horse by some character of him, or marks on his hide, or by some happening while breaking him, and by that time he could near tell what that certain bronc would turn out to be after the final education with stock at round-ups, and he seldom made mistakes that way. But the chestnut had fooled this cowboy from the start. Pete had glanced at him a little more than he had the other broncs, that was on account of the vicious-looking roman nosed head on such a well-built body in every way. The mild big brown eyes is what had fooled him, and hed figured that the vicious-looking shaped head was just a mistake of nature. The horse might turn out to be a little tougher than the aver age, a little harder to bust stop and turn and bring on a few new tricks, but all broncs acted more or less different anyway, and he didnt figure that this chestnut would be a Scorpion much harder nut to set and crack than the average bronc, and not near as hard as some hed took the rough off of, like some of them old experienced and spoiled outlaws. The second Pete spread his loop and caught the chestnut by the forefeet is when that cowboy started doubting his quick judgment of that horses nature. The chestnut hit the end of the rope like the good wild one he was, but he wasnt to be throwed so a hackamore could be slipped on his head while he was down. Instead, and by what seemed a miracle, he kept his feet, and after only a few tries at breaking loose he turned to face the cowboy. Pete went along the rope then to get a shorter and better holt and jerk the front feet out from under him when he would scare and turn to try and get away. But the horse didnt scare much nor turn. He only sort of crouched and slid back on his front feet some and eying Pete steady as that cowboy came closer...