Bray was not only the man who produced the first successful series of cartoons in the US, nor the man who retired to a life of ease off the income from the patents he assembled to do so -- the "Bray-Hurd Patents" that cartoons all mentioned well in the 1930s, particularly the basic cel that permitted the relatively cheap illusion of movement. His studio produced many live-action shorts before moving permanently into industrial films in the 1930s.
In this very early example, we see a real cowboy put together a lariat. I always thought it was simply a finely-woven rope, but apparently it is woven from horsehair -- from the mane and tail. Who'd a thunk it?