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I was a Cowboy for a while

Napajohnb
2006-01-03 20:37:34

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reason to say that as my bronco experience was limited to settling down horses that had spent all winter out to pasture and though some of these were feisty enough, they weren�t rodeo grade at all. I saw them smiling at me and soon we were on our way out toward the reservation in a little caravan of two cars and a pickup truck for a Saturday Night Barnyard Rodeo.

The corral was lit up with outside spotlights to light the long hours of Spring roundup and branding so it had the feel of an arena as they led the saddled-up horse to the rail. I looked over the horse and he did not look exceptional but I knew that looks had nothing to do with it. Many ranches had an outlaw or two, horses that would go wild each year when put out to pasture. Winter work on these ranches is light due to the blizzards that make the outer pastures snow-bound much of the time. The cattle and most of the horses are left pretty much alone over the winter months and often get a little wild in that time. I figured this was their outlaw.

I�d figured right and they�d no sooner turned us loose than I saw myself hurdling in slow motion toward the back fence of the corral, which was three strands of barbed wire. I landed in the fence having only lasted two bucks and I crumpled into a bleeding pile as the laughter rose from the far rail.

A few minutes later I was being fed coffee by an old Indian woman who had ridden out with us from town with her husband. I did not know her but I guessed her to be in her seventies at least. It was hard to judge as many of the reservation Indians lived hard lives and their faces often settle into a weathered old age in their fifties. Her long skirt gave her away to be older, a dress style maybe from one of the old mission schools early in the century.

The old man said something in Sioux and Theresa, looking anxiously on, translated that he was saying I wasn�t hurt too bad and should try again and ...