So we were compelled to do what I reckon had never been done or attempted before--separate the horses on the open prairie! First we cut out and pushed some half a mile away all mares and young unbranded colts to which the Company's title could not be disputed; also the stallions and geldings of like nature; then came the critical and difficult part of the operation--to cut out and separate mothers from their unbranded colts, and branded colts, some even one or two years old, from their mothers.

And not only cut them out, but hold them separate for a full couple of hours! No one can know what this means but one who has tried it.

I had done a fair amount of yearling steer-cutting; but hard as that work is, it is nothing compared with the separating of colts from their dams.

The only way was to suddenly scare the colt out and race him as hard as you could go to the other bunch.
But if by bad luck its mother gave a whinny, back the colt would come like a shot bullet, and nothing on earth could stop him.

Fortunately I had kept a fresh horse in reserve, a very fine fast and active cutting pony.