the curtains had a turning brew of brown and green bronco busters , each clever cowboy in chaps and holding lariats and mounted on the back of a bucking horse ; the cowboys had red kerchiefs and flying hats and teeny pockets ; the horses that curled over in a useless attempt to spill their tormentors , those horses were more like crabs , their manes sharp edged like the edge of a crab shell , their lips curling back and showing their sharp teeth ; here and there small green prickly pear cacti sprouted from small islands of sand .