Candy Wrappers, Dogs and Dances

As the pickup rounds the corner of the winding road, the headlights light up the old metal gate of the Crooked Creek coral. Wilford pulls up to the gate and nothing is said. I have done this routine so many times before. I get out and open the gate. I feel the cold air and am glad I put on my insulated jacket. As I open the gate, the cold steel makes me wish I had brought my leather gloves. Will pulls the pickup into the corrals and I close the gate behind him. We both rummage in the back of the pickup for bridles and ropes. I forget the blue healer is sitting in the dark against the pickup cab, and as I reach for my chaps and saddle bag he takes a nip at me. Will slaps him up the side of the head and curses at him but it won’t matter. He will try and bite me again the next time. It is just the way he is.


Will asks me to help him corner the Black so he can get a bridle on him. I am familiar with this horse. I have come to learn that I will never be the rider that Will is, and with this horse that is a blessing. After 10 minutes of wrestling, rodeoing and rope work we get a bridal on the black horse. There are nine horses in this corral and they are cow ponies, not riding horses. Any one of them would like to throw you at any given opportunity. Will tells me to get the sorel. He helps me corner the horse and it only takes a minute to settle him enough to get him bridled.
We tie the horses to the rear bumper of the truck and start sorting for saddles and blankets. The blue healer nips at me again. This time nothing is said, it is just the way he is. As I shake my saddle blanket out I feel that it is cold and damp, still wet from yesterdays ride. While saddling the two horses I see headlights from another pickup come over the hill towards the corral.


Buff and Nancy pull up to the coral and as Buff climbs out I can already tell that he is on edge. He asks me if I got enough sleep last night. I answer that I got just enough. He is fully aware that I was in town and out late. He also knows that when I left town four hours ago that Nancy was still there and it doesn’t take long to figure out that has determined his attitude for the day. He will go out of his way to make things miserable for Nancy this day and I am glad it is not me.


We open the gates of the corral holding the cattle and start pushing them North on the old dirt road towards the Pryors. I can just now start to see the edges of the mountains in the morning light and can barely see the canyon in the foothills that we will be going through. There is a road in this canyon that we will follow and will push the cows towards the summer range. The spring rains have washed the road out and it is now a 4 wheel drive only road. Will takes the lead. His horse is still crow hopping and not quite settled down yet. I take the flanks and Nancy works the rear of the herd. Calves are bawling and their mothers are answering, riders are yelling and whistling but we are now slowly starting to move North on the old Dryhead road.

As we come out of the canyon the trail opens up and we move through rolling hills with lots of draws. Two other riders from the Hansen family have joined us. No one asks why they are late, that’s just the way they are. They have arrived at the right time because from here on in the trail gets more difficult. The sun has now moved overhead and I had shucked the coat hours ago. I still am amazed at how cold it can be in the morning and so hot in the afternoon. The young and weaker calves are getting tired and want to lay down in the shade of the cedar and juniper trees. It now takes a lot of effort to find them and get them moving again. As I work the brush I notice that this horse wants to scrape me off at every chance he gets, and he wants to brush up against the trees. I am not a big fan of chaps. They are heavy, hot and make your legs sweat, but this brush work will now force me to put them on. I pull up and take the chaps out of the saddle bag and also put on some spurs, thinking this horse could use an attitude adjustment. While digging in my saddle bag I come across an old Jolly Rancher candy... cinnamon and probably over a year old. It is still a welcomed snacked since I didn’t have breakfast and lunch is still an hour away. As I climb back into the saddle, the horse is a little nervous from the chaps and spurs. We do a dance to find out who will lead and I finally get that settled. As we both relax, I unwrap my Jolly Rancher. A gust of wind takes the wrapper from my hand and it lands in the horses ear. In just the few nano-seconds I have, I know that I am not in a good position to handle what is coming next.The horse is now in a full buck and I have lost one rein and do not have control of this dance. Just as the impact of the ground hits my back I know that I have been thrown. I have landed on a rock and my legs have gone numb and I can’t get up. It takes a few seconds. It seems like minutes, but soon I can feel my legs and I can now barely stand up. Will comes by and checks to see if I am all right. I tell him I am OK and climb back in the saddle.


Marilyn and her truck have now joined the rear of the herd and when you see Marilyn you know it is lunch time. It has nothing to do with a clock or a certain time. Lunch is cold cut sandwiches , chips, cookies and cold pop. To me it is a feast. We get to relax a little and I get to harass Nancy for being out so late. She looks like she could use some sleep. We change horses at noon because the morning horses are too tired. My afternoon horse is older and slower. I could have used him this morning. Nancy and I rope and catch four or five of the weaker calves that have been slowing us down. I tie their legs together and put them in back of Marilyn's pick up and we start the herd North.


It is now late afternoon and the herd is getting tired and slowing down. The riders at the rear are needing help to keep them moving. I ride up front to see if I can get Wills blue healer to help out. The healers are really good at this work. They bite the cows just above the hoof and know just when to move before getting kicked. The healer is working hard and gets the slower cows moving again. A calf has separated and moved too far away and the healer sees him and takes off. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the calf’s mother and she is coming on hard to intercept. The healer sees her and spins away just in time. He comes back to nip her and his timing is just a little off and she catches him with a good kick. He rolls through the brush yelping. I see him come out the other side of the draw and he is limping.


The sun is now starting to set and the sky could not be a prettier color. I notice that behind the herd we have picked up a following. A pack of coyotes has gathered and is following us. The healer has been slowed down from his injury and has moved to the end of the herd. As I work the herd I watch the coyotes because they are getting closer then normal. There isn’t any fear of the coyotes, they are too scared to get close enough to humans to be a problem. Soon I can see why they are closer than normal. They are stalking the healer and they can tell that he has been wounded . If he falls back too far they will kill him. Will has noticed this too and as the healer drifts too far back, he spurs his horse and gets between the healer and the coyotes . I get off and pick the healer up and put him the cab of the pickup. This time he doesn’t try to bite me.


It is now getting too dark to go on any farther, so we will stop here for the night. The herd is too tired to wander, and there is water here so most of them will stay put. In the morning we will have to gather a few that will wander off in the night. It has been a long day and I am sore and tired. I will get home in time to shower and head to town. I should stay home and get some sleep, but there is a dance in town tonight that will have a live band and I am anxious to be there. There is a girl I met that has long legs, dark hair and calf eyes and I know that she will be looking for me.

Sunday morning : It is raining with a little snow mixed in. It is going to be a long day.