Favored in the Great Cowboy Race,

“Doc” Middleton finished in last place. Here he poses in front of a Wild West Show stage set with his horse Geronimo. Note the Native American roustabout sitting atop the “log cabin”; seams where sections of the backdrop join are visible. Note Middleton’s horse: It is neither a rondo nor a Billy, and certainly not a Quarter Horse, but rather a Cayuse—an animal of mixed Thoroughbred, Morgan and Mustang breeding—with perhaps a dash of Billy in it. The Cayuse was the commonest ranch horse of the time.