Ol' Saddletramp and I were riding along on our ponies and chatting today. He has worked on quite a few ranches around the Sandhills, and has a pretty good perspective on how different folks operate. He has kept his eyes and ears open, and has learned different tricks of the trade from every outfit he every rode for.
Early on, in the '70's when he first hit this country, he worked for a big absentee owned-foreman operated place that had a big crew. There was another big ranch further down in the hills owned by the same people, which also had a big crew run by a foreman. These guys from both ranches were all cowboys, and there was fierce competition and rivalry to be the best at their trade. Fads came and went on a regular basis, and each cowboy was justifyably proud of their own saddles, gear and personal cowpuncher attire.
Saddletramp and the other hands from the north ranch went to help work cattle at the south ranch. He noticed that every cowboy down there had an extra plain leather chin strap (which connects to the underside of a bridle bit) attached to their saddle. He was puzzled but didn't ask any questions. On their way home that evening, the foreman from the north ranch wondered aloud if any of the others had observed the extra chin straps that all the south cowboys were carrying. They did. The foreman laughed and said that one of the top hands down south knew his chin strap was getting badly worn, so had brought along a spare one day. The next day all the hands had "spares". The lead instigator used his new chin strap, and all the others were still carrying theirs because it was the present style.
Is there a lesson in this about R-Calf, and their "adopt a lawyer" quest? :lol:
