COWBOY'S - Lets hear from you + Pictures

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#221  
I had a saying that I used on quite a few want to be cowboys. "I have fallen off of better horses than most of you have rode."

Actually I have never been thrown off, when I expected the horse to buck.

In about 1952 or 53 we had a 1/4 horse colt named "Nosy", Brought him to town (Tombstone population about 800 at that time.), in 1954.
As with most town horses he pretty much became a pet. He was my job to take care of & finish raising. I also had to break him. I use the term Break pretty loosely. It was more just training him & playing with him. When it came time to ride him he was already saddle broke. When I mounted him, he wheeled & bucked to the far end of the corral, turned & bucked back. That was the one & only time he ever bucked. We did have a couple of arguments, Like one time he did not want to cross a wooden bridge. Think I finally had to lead him across. But coming back he was fine & went right across the bridge.

Not sure what dad was thinking, but he decided to race Nosy He had him running with the bit pulled back hard, like a real race horse. Not long after that I went for a ride on Nosy. he had been running flat out beside a paved street. As I pulled back on the reins he just kept running. Finally he realized he was suppose to stop it was too late. We went through an intersection with all 4 feet sliding, and a car coming at us just feet away. Man did that car look BIG. That was the last time we ran in town.

He was never raced but did get a couple of ribbons at local horse shows.

he went to live at the Healy ranch & was killed by lighting.
Clell Nosy.jpg
 
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#222  
Lion off the cliff.
Dad & were staying at the "W J" homestead on the Slaughter ranch in the southern end of the white mountains.
It was a pretty good summer, 2 lions & 1 bear.

Riding west of the main house we rode up on a fresh kill. Within minutes the hounds jumped the lion. The lion treed on a small ledge over a 50 or 60 foot cliff. Clell shot the lion & it fell off the cliff onto a bunch of jagged rocks. After being shot & falling it was still moving. The hounds found a way off the cliff & dad right after them. Yelled at me to find a way around the cliff with the mules.

It must have taken me 15 or 20 minuets to find a place & let the mules pick their way down. When I got there he was standing on the lions neck & it was still squirming. Although wounded & dying it could have still hurt the hounds if given a chance.

1 Reason for hunting there was the state & cattle mans ***. paid a bounty & Mr. Slaughter paid a bounty for any killed on His ranch.

I always thought that the mans name was John, but according to wikipedia it was Willie.
The ranch was also named San Bernardino Ranch, & is no a national monument. It was always called the Slaughter ranch when we were there.

Short intersting read at wiki.
John Horton Slaughter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
   / COWBOY'S - Lets hear from you + Pictures
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#223  
After thinking about it for a while. The man that ran the Slaughter ranch was named John. He must have been a Grandson of Texas John.

Main Ranch house was on Turkey Creek. (There are 3 or more turkey creeks.)
 
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#224  
A couple of days after killing the lion, we rode back up to where the kill was. Sure enough a bear had been feeding on it,

It didn't take the hounds long to tree the bear. No cliff disaster or nothing. Mules have dislike for bear & at times getting one to carry a bear can be a problem. Dad had no trouble loaded the bear up & we went to the main ranch house.

I could see that dad was getting nervous & frigidity. Well this was shortly after AZ started to protecting bears. Any bear killed had to be a proven livestock killer.

Soon as we got in the yard, the bear was dumped off. Dad right behind it with his pocket knife out. Sliced open the bears belly & reached in grabbed a hand full of cow hair. Almost instant relief. We left the bear in the yard & the hair on the back porch. Old man Slaughter was still paying a bounty on the proven killers on his ranch.

Easy rid back to the WJ"s on the real road & what was used as a road to the house. Even had a mule race after the last gate was closed.

Come on Folk's you people post some stories. I may run out some day. But don't get your hopes up. :laughing:
 
   / COWBOY'S - Lets hear from you + Pictures #225  
I have a hay hauling story that will shed some light on Daddy's temperament. When I was younger we had use of about 1000 acres of pasture and woodland that belongs to cousins. With that graze, along with our 200+ acres, we were able to run two herds of cows, each herd about 60-75 head. We had two hayfields, one on land that had belonged to Mamma's Aunt Annie that we call the Annie Land, the other one at the river, which we call the River Field. The 3-trail road through the woods to the Annie Land is at the top of the hill, just a 1/4 mile up the road from the old house. {which at the time was just the house} The River Field is 2 1/2 miles away, on down past where my house is now.

We would take the tractor and the truck, and get two rolls of hay for each herd. Most of the time we would load two rolls on the truck, go feed the herd where I live now. {which used to be called the old house, because of my grandparents' old house was still standing then} Then come back and get one roll on the tractor and one roll on the truck to bring back to the home herd. Sometimes we would get the hay from one field, and sometimes the other, according to how much we had in each place, or just how we felt.

Well on the day in question we hadn't really talked about which field we were going to. I was on the tractor and had started out first. Daddy was coming along behind me in the new '92 GMC pickup. When I got to the top of the hill I moved over to the right to make the left turn into the 3-trail road leading to the Annie Land. Daddy thought I was pulling over to let him pass, so he started to pass me just as I turned to the left. The right front of the pickup hit the left rear tractor tire, causing the proverbial fender bender. Daddy got out with a big grin on his face. He pulled the fender off the tire, and said, "I thought you were going to the River Field." The truck was less than 6 months old and had not had a scratch on it. Now it had a crumpled fender, with big black skid marks. But it was a farm truck, and Daddy was never one to waste anger on things you couldn't undo. We went on and fed the cows.

Larro
 
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#226  
Originally posted if First Rattler this year.

Roughly 60 years ago I was riding fence in the White Mountains, north eastern AZ. Really bad storm 15 /20 miles away. So I was going to keep on, until that fence sort of lit me up.
There was a deep & very steep draw to cross & an old truck parked beside the rutted road. That storm hit before I made it all the way. Hail about the size of a dime, ole mule just wanted to put her head down & shake it. Managed to get her under a big pine. I made it to the old truck. Storm didn't last long, but left about 3 or 4 inches of hail on the ground.

We started up the old road, when water running down 1 of the ruts, made that hail rustle much like a rattler. The mule & I almost parted company.
Took 10 / 15 minuets to get her to go on up the road.
 
   / COWBOY'S - Lets hear from you + Pictures
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#227  
A few days after killing the bear, we rode out to the south east. Hot dry day, not good for man or beast.
Came to hole in the rocks that rain had filled with water. Had to fight with the hounds, brush the water skippers out of the way to get a drink from the hole. Only a little green algae growing in the water.

In a little while we dropped into a narrow gouge with steep sides. Mules, hounds & us heads down, dreaming of the cool clear water of Turkey Creek up ahead.

Here come a lion walking up the sand wash. Clell had to yell at the hounds, before they saw or smelled it. At some point, durring a flood the creek had cut a pointed little island about 20 feet tall. Ole lion went to the top of it. So much scent every where the hounds got confused. I got them started up the island, when they got there he bolted off the island, up the canyon wall & out through the brush. I mean heavy thick nasty brush dogs hot on hit trail & dad right after them. I skirted around to where the brush was not so thick & was not too far behind.

Ole lion went to turkey creek & treeded in the fork of a small tree. Dad handed me the rifle, a lever action 25-35, saying the sights are a little off, its going to shoot about 1 inch low & i inch right, hit him between the eye & the ear. Be sure, don''t want him cutting up the hounds. 1 Shot & just where I was suppose to hit him. Never a quiver after he hit the ground.

Hounds had a great time mauling him.

Me & the mules also had a good time drinking & cooling off in Turkey Creek.
 
   / COWBOY'S - Lets hear from you + Pictures #228  
Cowboy's are native to Texas, all others are cattleman.
Yet the first recorded use of the term cowboy was recorded in 1725, a direct translation of "Vaquero."

During the Revolutionary War, Americans who fought for the British were called cowboys. We forgive you....
 
   / COWBOY'S - Lets hear from you + Pictures #229  
Yet the first recorded use of the term cowboy was recorded in 1725, a direct translation of "Vaquero."

During the Revolutionary War, Americans who fought for the British were called cowboys. We forgive you....

Cowboy was also a slave term. You had house boys, field boys, boat boys, mill boys, and all other occupation boys. Cowboys is the one term that made the move over to the mainstream and meant all cow hands, not just slaves.

Larro
 
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#230  
Riding & roping

rope n ride.jpg
 
 
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