azcowpuncher
Well-known member
Well me and a friend was sure tired of follerin cows around in the rocks and brush and the heat of the arizona sun , so we decides to head north . We load our outfitts up in the pickup and off we went , well we were told that utah had some pretty neat country and we should try to hit some outfitts there . Well shortly after ariving in Utah we realized that alot of them fellers there dont hire outsiders , but we were told byy a nice old gentlemen that if we were to hang around in the mormon church on sunday and be sure to call the men brothers and the women sisters we were sure to get a job . Well needless to say we hit the road again headed for nevada .
well i am not gonna mention any names or places the guys that were there and the outfitt we were on will know the story . Well we hired on to this big nevada ranch , first day there we were gettin guff about our short catch ropes and taps on our saddles our swell forked saddles and such . Well to us we were in a different world flat hats flat country and lots of wind . Well we unloaded our stuff got set in the bunkhouse and chatted with these flatlanders a little bit about guys we know and different ways of doin things . Next mornin we eat somthin and head out to the ropes , were p.d.q. them horses are standin . the jigger gets in there and starts catchin horses and me and my az pal are the only ones not callin out horses as we didnt know our string yet . Well the jigger looks at me like your up kid , and ropes this big ole roan horse out of the bunch , well wouldnt ya know i guess this one aint broke to lead cause the horse wrangler has got to ride in and drag this sumbuck out of the ropes . Well when i get him outside we stand around till my friend gets his nag , and we start to saddle up ( damn near had to tie a foot up to get saddled ) Well i try to lead this ole pony up a step or two to untrack him and he jumps up the bridle riens at me and just misses me by a few inches . So i decide i am just gonna step aboard , now i used to be pretty big on first impresions and this wasnt any different and all be damned if i was gonna hang on to my nightlatch , well this ole pony swallowed his head and about 3 jumps later i bought some real estate on that big nevada flat , i hit so hard i had to call the folks back home in arizona and make sure they were ok . When i got back on him i wasnt ashamed to grab my nightlatch one bit and finaly got him rode with the help of god and grabbin everything i could get a hold of . Well we went to work and made a circle in big piece of country , gets to were we are gonna work the herd and i come ridin up to the holdup and my horse is sweatin hard , harder than anyone else cept my az buddy . He slips over to me and says " you think these buckaroos have figured out a way to ride them horses without makin them sweat ? " . well i says no i think maybe they are not workin their country like we do maybe . Well turns out we were coverin more country than needed and they were wonderin what we were doin zig zaggin in the flats for anyway . But just so you folks dont think were gunsels , in arizona in the few places its actually flat and no trees there are big canyons that you cant see till your on top of them and not knowin Nevada is really just flat we were coverin our country , Yeah as you can imagine we did get alot of harassin about that .
For the most part my horses were pretty good other than that roan that was just a horse and thats about all i will say of him . They were young and some were hard mouthed some were fast but all they were was just down right circle horses and nothin more . Draggin calves up there was a whole new expierance as well now we head and heel some calves in arizona too but not everything in the herd and we are used to bein up on our ropes and not 60 feet away with a loop you could drive a mack truck thru , so it wasnt very long and we had it figured out but it sure was a different deal than we were used too . Well once we got it all figured out we started becomin friend with them guys and a cow run off one day and them cows are fat and shortlegged so they cant get away too fast and they really cant get away from them race horses them guys up there ride . Well i was tied hard and fast and reached out and caught her and laid her down , a couple of them boys made comments bout how they hadnt never seen anyone tie on and catch somthin before and thought it was pretty intresting , well later on that day i talked one of them fellers into takin my rope and tyin on and catchin somthin when we got them cows were they needed to be . He did and when he set the binders on that pony and he got that jerk it looked like you walked over his grave . Needless to say he didnt like it and went back to the long rope but had a little more respect for a feller that ties off or so he said anyway .
We stayed on for about a month there helpin them boys get their brandin done and cattle moved , and about 2 weeks into that deal i was sure eyeballin them broke horses they were ridin how nice they handled compared to the rodeo stock we were ridin and the jigger ask me if i would like to trade a horse off for a good rodear horse , well he no sooner got that out of his mouth there standin at the ropes and i had a holt of ole roany sayin lets do some tradin . Well i pulled the shoes on ole roany and turned him out and he got me up a real nice bay horse big bald face good lookin booger , well first ride on him was a pleasure thats for sure . Now i am probly gonna piss some of my southern friends off with this remark but i dont really give a hoot , but one thing you cant take away from the nevada flat landers is they sure can make a horse . I have rode lots of good horses in Arizona but none compare to that ole bay horse i had in my string and he was just a camp man horse nothin special . Now i have started colts and worked with alot of guys that started colts and i am no horse hand i can get one rode and i can get him to do what i want but who ever their bronc hand was that started their horses they keep for camp men was sure a hell of a horse hand . So the rest of the time i was there was sure a good time and they asked if i would stay thru the summer , but was missin the trees and the rocks and decided best to head home before they transform me to a flat hatter with so much silver you can see me comin miles away .
I was sure glad to get back to Arizona and everytime i hear these guys talk bad about them northern boys i just think they ought to go up and work with them for a works and see if they come home thinkin the same way , they get a bad impresion of them cause you take a guy used to the flats and stick him in rough country and its like a fish out of water . They may not have rough country and may not have fast cattle like we do but they get the job done and they do it all horseback just like we do , and they are just as out of place down here as we are up there . They have broncs just as bad as us . Their country is a little easier to work and you can get a pickup anywere you want to go and your not jumpin from boulder to boulder tryin to get around somthin but its a good time and good hands and met some real good folks up there i would work with again anyday .
well i am not gonna mention any names or places the guys that were there and the outfitt we were on will know the story . Well we hired on to this big nevada ranch , first day there we were gettin guff about our short catch ropes and taps on our saddles our swell forked saddles and such . Well to us we were in a different world flat hats flat country and lots of wind . Well we unloaded our stuff got set in the bunkhouse and chatted with these flatlanders a little bit about guys we know and different ways of doin things . Next mornin we eat somthin and head out to the ropes , were p.d.q. them horses are standin . the jigger gets in there and starts catchin horses and me and my az pal are the only ones not callin out horses as we didnt know our string yet . Well the jigger looks at me like your up kid , and ropes this big ole roan horse out of the bunch , well wouldnt ya know i guess this one aint broke to lead cause the horse wrangler has got to ride in and drag this sumbuck out of the ropes . Well when i get him outside we stand around till my friend gets his nag , and we start to saddle up ( damn near had to tie a foot up to get saddled ) Well i try to lead this ole pony up a step or two to untrack him and he jumps up the bridle riens at me and just misses me by a few inches . So i decide i am just gonna step aboard , now i used to be pretty big on first impresions and this wasnt any different and all be damned if i was gonna hang on to my nightlatch , well this ole pony swallowed his head and about 3 jumps later i bought some real estate on that big nevada flat , i hit so hard i had to call the folks back home in arizona and make sure they were ok . When i got back on him i wasnt ashamed to grab my nightlatch one bit and finaly got him rode with the help of god and grabbin everything i could get a hold of . Well we went to work and made a circle in big piece of country , gets to were we are gonna work the herd and i come ridin up to the holdup and my horse is sweatin hard , harder than anyone else cept my az buddy . He slips over to me and says " you think these buckaroos have figured out a way to ride them horses without makin them sweat ? " . well i says no i think maybe they are not workin their country like we do maybe . Well turns out we were coverin more country than needed and they were wonderin what we were doin zig zaggin in the flats for anyway . But just so you folks dont think were gunsels , in arizona in the few places its actually flat and no trees there are big canyons that you cant see till your on top of them and not knowin Nevada is really just flat we were coverin our country , Yeah as you can imagine we did get alot of harassin about that .
For the most part my horses were pretty good other than that roan that was just a horse and thats about all i will say of him . They were young and some were hard mouthed some were fast but all they were was just down right circle horses and nothin more . Draggin calves up there was a whole new expierance as well now we head and heel some calves in arizona too but not everything in the herd and we are used to bein up on our ropes and not 60 feet away with a loop you could drive a mack truck thru , so it wasnt very long and we had it figured out but it sure was a different deal than we were used too . Well once we got it all figured out we started becomin friend with them guys and a cow run off one day and them cows are fat and shortlegged so they cant get away too fast and they really cant get away from them race horses them guys up there ride . Well i was tied hard and fast and reached out and caught her and laid her down , a couple of them boys made comments bout how they hadnt never seen anyone tie on and catch somthin before and thought it was pretty intresting , well later on that day i talked one of them fellers into takin my rope and tyin on and catchin somthin when we got them cows were they needed to be . He did and when he set the binders on that pony and he got that jerk it looked like you walked over his grave . Needless to say he didnt like it and went back to the long rope but had a little more respect for a feller that ties off or so he said anyway .
We stayed on for about a month there helpin them boys get their brandin done and cattle moved , and about 2 weeks into that deal i was sure eyeballin them broke horses they were ridin how nice they handled compared to the rodeo stock we were ridin and the jigger ask me if i would like to trade a horse off for a good rodear horse , well he no sooner got that out of his mouth there standin at the ropes and i had a holt of ole roany sayin lets do some tradin . Well i pulled the shoes on ole roany and turned him out and he got me up a real nice bay horse big bald face good lookin booger , well first ride on him was a pleasure thats for sure . Now i am probly gonna piss some of my southern friends off with this remark but i dont really give a hoot , but one thing you cant take away from the nevada flat landers is they sure can make a horse . I have rode lots of good horses in Arizona but none compare to that ole bay horse i had in my string and he was just a camp man horse nothin special . Now i have started colts and worked with alot of guys that started colts and i am no horse hand i can get one rode and i can get him to do what i want but who ever their bronc hand was that started their horses they keep for camp men was sure a hell of a horse hand . So the rest of the time i was there was sure a good time and they asked if i would stay thru the summer , but was missin the trees and the rocks and decided best to head home before they transform me to a flat hatter with so much silver you can see me comin miles away .
I was sure glad to get back to Arizona and everytime i hear these guys talk bad about them northern boys i just think they ought to go up and work with them for a works and see if they come home thinkin the same way , they get a bad impresion of them cause you take a guy used to the flats and stick him in rough country and its like a fish out of water . They may not have rough country and may not have fast cattle like we do but they get the job done and they do it all horseback just like we do , and they are just as out of place down here as we are up there . They have broncs just as bad as us . Their country is a little easier to work and you can get a pickup anywere you want to go and your not jumpin from boulder to boulder tryin to get around somthin but its a good time and good hands and met some real good folks up there i would work with again anyday .
