ve wood to represent the
horse makes a good pack, while a string with a bent nail for cinch hook
will do as lash rope. With these you can follow out each detail.

[Sidenote: Saddling the Horse]

First of all you must be very careful to get your saddle blankets on
smooth and without wrinkles. Hoist the saddle into place, then lift it
slightly and loosen the blanket along the length of the backbone, so
that the weight of the pack will not bind the blanket tight across the
horse's back. In cinching up, be sure you know your animal; some puff
themselves out so that in five minutes the cinch will hang loose. Fasten
your latigo or cinch straps to the _lower_ ring. Thus you can get at it
even when the pack is in place.

[Sidenote: Packing the Kyacks]

Distribute the weight carefully between the kyacks. "Heft" them again
and again. The least preponderance on one side will cause a saddle to
sag in that direction; that in turn will bring pressure to bear on the
opposite side of the withers, and that will surely chafe to a sore.
Then you are in trouble.

When you are quite sure the kyacks weigh alike, get your companion to
hang one on the pack saddle, at the same time you hook the straps of the
other. If you try to do it by yourself you must leave one hanging while
you pick up the other, thus running a good risk of twisting the saddle.

[Sidenote: Top Packs]

Your top pack you will build as the occasion demands. In general, try to
make it as low as possible and to get your blankets on top where the
pack rope "bites." The strap connecting the kyacks is then buckled. Over
all you will throw the canvas tarpaulin that you use to sleep on. Tuck
it in back and front to exclude dust. It is now ready for the pack rope.

[Illustration: _The Jam Hitch._]

[Sidenote: Jam Hitch]

1. _The Jam Hitch._--All hitches possess one thing in common--the rope
passes around the horse and through the cinch hook. The first pull is to
tighten that cinch. Afterward other maneuvers are attempted. Now
ordinarily the packer pulls tight his cinch, and then in the further
throwing of the hitch he depends on holding his slack. It is a very
difficult thing to do. With the jam hitch, however, the necessity is
obviated. The beauty of it is that the rope renders freely one way--the
way you are pulling--but will not give a hair the other--the direction
of loosening. So you may heave up the cinch as tightly as you please,
then drop the rope and go on about