kat, I'm not saying it's a daily thing for a cowboy to be tossed and dragged. But that is one of the reasons they were popularized in the early west. Of course people ought to learn how to mount and ride correctly. I was taught to get my foot out of the stirrup FIRST, if a horse started to throw me, and rely on my knees to try to keep my seat in the saddle.

Killing the horse is not a fun idea -- but you're still going to find cowboys in my area carrying pistols when they're out on the range, especially if they're alone. There are still rattlesnakes and predators to contend with; the possibility of a horse shying and catching you unaware is still there. As for whether or not someone would have the presence of mind -- well, that all runs to opinion. One never knows unless one is faced with it; it might be more of an immediate reaction than a clever thought process. People are different, after all. We get in an urgent situation and one person goes into hysterics while another goes cold and calm and yet another reacts violently.

What I was trying to say, though, is that people's situations are different, and it makes no sense for someone in Manhattan or London to try to project his/her life situation onto someone in Tucumcari, and to legislate survival techniques according to an understanding that takes the tube to work each day and sees wildlife at the zoo. That's one of what I consider the beauties of the Constitution: it takes so much varied life into account, and makes provision to protect the minority -- in this case, we who live in smaller towns on the edge of "civilization" and certainly on the edge of the wild -- from the majority.

I wouldn't change a word of it.

Sarah