When I was a cowboy
montanajoe
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It was the middle of the winter and we were remodeling the bar. We worked overnight so not to have to close for business, and overnight is when all the inspectors are asleep. Been busting butt all week, long hours,hard work, we are beat.
Right about sunrise we get a call from one of the owners sister that the horses got the fence down and making their way to the road. The owners brother, my work partner elects to send me to tend to the horses. There are only 2 horses. Dusty is just plain onery and smokey spooks real easy from being blind from getting hit in the head by lightning while drinking water. It's -20 degrees in a snowstorm and I head to the farm.
When I get there I see the 2 horses down just off the road,but perfectly content as the were eating hay bales that had been stacked there by the fence. Still I couldn't leave them there and to get them in the upper pasture. Had no rope,no bridle, nothing. So I decide to grab an arm full of hay and lead them up. I soon found out that my arm load of hay made it only half way to the upper gate. Damm, now what.
After more attempts than I ever should have I got the idea to leave the horses while I place several piles of hay at intervals up to the gate. Hey hey, it worked. I got Dusty in the upper pasture. Now to go back for Smokey.
Tried the same trick but it was going slow as Smokey is all nervous, he can only see like shadows. I got him up to the gate he saw the shadow and away he went. Flat out run back down to the roadside. Back I go after him. This is a good couple hundred yards from point A to B in about knee deep snow, AND the 20 below temp. I'm absolutely freezing. After several more attempts I decided to leave the gate open and try to get Smokey up there one more time. Smokey I said, if I had a gun with me, I'd shoot you right here. Got him back up the field and near the open gate. I knew if he caught a shadow he'd be gone again so I decided one of us may die doing this but here goes. Whack!!!! Big 'ol smack on his butt, he jumped up, dug in his feet and bolted straight through the gate. Nothing to it. I am frozen, mad, tired, hurting,mad,mad, and frozen. I get back to the bar to find my partner sitting in the resturant side of the business nice and warm, having breakfast. He see's me and just bust out laughing. I wasn't laughing but sat down to breakfast and coffee with him.
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Comments
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Cows and horses can smell an opening in a fence in a blizzard.
For real ???
I was dispatched for a mare & stallion that got out & were damaging neighbor's lawns. Sorry Joe, it was sunny & in the 70's. Couldn't get near the stallion, but got a rope on the mare. I put the other end in the car trunk & led her back, with the stallion close behind. She went right in the corral & he just stood at the gate. Funny, he went right in when I picked up & raised a 2x4. The (useless) wife said, "Yup, my husband taught him what a 2x4 is."
Cowboy? did you rustle cattle out of Mexico for trade in Tombstone?
Quote; "Whack!!!! Big 'ol smack on his butt"
I'd call you a "Cow Puncher" but without any cows around the next best description would get edited out of my post! 😁
You did say you had a partner but should have called him your Pardner! That's just how real cowboys talk. 😁
Anyway, great story! I actually got very cold while reading it. I had to also take a break just thinking about treading all those distances in knee deep snow!
NOTHING will wake you up quicker than hearing "the cows are out"
Yep. I don't miss that part.
Friends and family keep asking me when I'm going to put cows back on the farm. Nope, no, nyet, no way. Stories like these remind me of those pains in the butt that large livestock can become. Chickens and goats will be the extent of my herd.
Nothing screams "no" like remembering having to break 4 inch thick pond ice for cattle to have a drink of water, EVERY DAY for what seemed like forever to a teenager. Hauling hay 4-5 months of the year, loading grain into feeders, calving in the dead of winter or the 100 degree summer. Neighbors calling because there are cows in their yard and having to walk the fence to find where they got out and then repair it. Nope.
love 2, and even worse when you get to the" out" cows they aren't yours.
I’ve never been a cowboy, but in my line of work I spend my mornings hearding engineers.
Somehow I can absolutely relate to this story!