July 10, 2014
Some of you might have noticed this picture of me and The Western Original’s bucking horse, Carol here, and wondered why I would “tame down” a bucking horse.
Truth is, we like them nice and calm. Our bulls will eat cucs and zucs right from our hand and enjoy an occasional back rub.
And they still buck! In fact they buck better when they aren’t scared.
If our animals can stand in the bucking chute and be calm and just focus on the job they are about to be asked to do, they will buck much better than if they are scared and going insane in the chutes.
This was my horse, Johnny Rebel. I played with him since he was just a baby on his mama’s side. He would always walk up to me, I could pick up all his feet and we where best buddies. The Western Original and I where convinced he would never make a bucking horse because he was so gentle.
When he turned 2-years-old I was ready to saddle him the first time. I got him in the round corral and pulled the cinch and - BOOM! His bucking horse legacy came out in a flash! Ever heard the song “Strawberry Roan” yep, that was him!
After we finally got the saddle back off him, we decided to put him in the next rodeo. He bucked at all our local rodeos and ended up being sold at the Benny Binion Bucking Horse Sale in Las Vegas.
The Western Original once owned a bull he called Yellowstone, the bull was so gentle that behind the chutes, before the rodeo, there would be 4 or 5 young kids crawled up on the fence and over onto his back. He would stand munching some hay and let the kiddos sit on him, scratch his back and crawl all over him.
Then the Western Original would load him in the chute and pull the gate and - BAM! He’d buck the cowboy off very time!
~ I don’t think this is Yellowstone, but I had so much fun going through the Western Original’s photo books I had to share a few of them with you! ~
The Western Original had a bareback horse named - well he is still trying to remember the horse’s name - “That sorrel horse” is all that he is coming up with right now.
Anyway - "that sorrel horse" was a tremendous bareback horse. They would put him out for the first event of the rodeo he’d buck like crazy, then bring him around strip off the bareback riggin’ and then saddle him up and ride him the rest of the day on him as a pick-up horse.
~ And again this is obviously not “that sorrel horse” but it is taken from about the same time-period. ~
I would like to point out, that these are kind of exceptional cases. Most of our bucking horses won’t let you walk up and give them kisses, but we try to keep all our horses calm and sane. This is Calamity Kate, she is a nice bay mare that the Western Original raised, she is going to her first rodeos this year, and is finding her feet and learning her job.
She is not what you might call friendly, I can’t pet her, or feed her by hand or things of that nature, but when I am out in the pasture taking pictures, she and her twin cousin are right behind me trying to figure out what that crazy lady with the camera is up to.
These horses are part of our family. We watch they take their first steps, doctor them, feed them in the heat and in the cold, care for them and work with them. We love them.
So you see - they aren’t mean or scared or insane. They just have a job to do.
I will be honest and tell you a lot of them are down right ornery. But so am I. So it’s all good.
Thank you so much for joining us here at the barnyard. Please come back soon! If you have any questions about rodeo or anything else, please leave a comment here. Thank you so much!
** Here are the barnyard updates:
Mini aussie pups due in the next couple weeks. The bad news - I was hoping for a litter out of Rainy by now, but looks like she didn’t take. The good news - this litter will be out of Gidget x Chief. And they are going to be great dogs! Small mini/large toy sized and Working dogs!
I believe we will have Spotty puppies at the end of August.
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And a little bonus - here is the “Strawberry Roan” song sung by Wyoming Cowboy and recording artist.
