COWBOY'S - Lets hear from you + Pictures

[crash325]

The great Mule Race - (OK it was not so great. :laughing
We were camped at K.P. cienega See web site at Arizona White Mountains, Camping, K.P. Cienega

I was about 14 & my buddy 15. Dad wanted us to take a horse over the mountain's to ranch down on Eagle Creek. The man were to see was not there, so we went back to a line shack about 4 miles back on the trail, us a little canyon.

Well as kids will do we stated racing, me on Judy mule & him on Susie Q. AS mentioned in the snake thread, mules have a quirk or maybe more.

Off we went him in the lead & me right behind. The trail turned 90 degrees to cross the creek. One of Judy's quirks, once she got her head no matter what she would not turn. Her head clear back in the stirrup & she is going straight until some thing forces her to stop.

My buddy is laughing at me. Then says you just don't know how to ride a mule. My turn - trade mules & the next clear spot & off we go. He had a brand new powder blue Stetson hat. Soon the trail crossed the creek again. Judy mule has her head, & its back in the stirrup again. She goes right through a young pine tree. & only stops when the brush gets so think she can't go any more.

My turn to laugh. New Stetson has bright Green stripes down 1 side. Saw him 30 years later, he still had the hat & was still complaining about it.

Other things went wrong on this little trip, more later. Hope you got a laugh. :laughing:

 

[two_bit_score]

The great Mule Race - (OK it was not so great. :laughing
We were camped at K.P. cienega See web site at Arizona White Mountains, Camping, K.P. Cienega

I was about 14 & my buddy 15. Dad wanted us to take a horse over the mountain's to ranch down on Eagle Creek. The man were to see was not there, so we went back to a line shack about 4 miles back on the trail, us a little canyon.

Well as kids will do we stated racing, me on Judy mule & him on Susie Q. AS mentioned in the snake thread, mules have a quirk or maybe more.

Off we went him in the lead & me right behind. The trail turned 90 degrees to cross the creek. One of Judy's quirks, once she got her head no matter what she would not turn. Her head clear back in the stirrup & she is going straight until some thing forces her to stop.

My buddy is laughing at me. Then says you just don't know how to ride a mule. My turn - trade mules & the next clear spot & off we go. He had a brand new powder blue Stetson hat. Soon the trail crossed the creek again. Judy mule has her head, & its back in the stirrup again. She goes right through a young pine tree. & only stops when the brush gets so think she can't go any more.

My turn to laugh. New Stetson has bright Green stripes down 1 side. Saw him 30 years later, he still had the hat & was still complaining about it.

Other things went wrong on this little trip, more later. Hope you got a laugh. :laughing:

:laughing:

 

[genusCastor]

As a boy I watched Branded w/Chuck Conners seems like not many oldtimers remember the tv series ...

We found a Branded DVD with a few episodes (maybe a full season?).

Re: Bonanza - I didn't know Dan was a cowboy, but the was my first guess. Has anyone ever visited the Bonanza set near Lake Tahoe? I was surprised how small the house is. And there's no upstairs, the stairway goes up to nothing...the upstairs scenes were shot in California.

- djb

 

[crash325]

Mistakes were made, even before the not so great mule race.
It was a nice easy ride, about 15 miles & I knew the mountains. Wrong!!
Were either one of us paying attention, of course not, just riding along sort of sight seeing. Mistake #1
Going back to the ranch the next morning, owner still gone, foreman would not let us have what we were to trade for.
Lets go back to KP any way. minor mistake.
Eagle creek was silver with fish. They were small, so we scooped up a bunch of them. Nearly filled a saddle bag, thinking how good they would taste. Minor mistake.

About a mile or 2 past the line shack the trail forked. The 1 on the right looked like it went too much south & we needed to go east.
Take the left fork. Major Mistake #2.
After a few miles the trail suddenly turned west, we need to go east. Head east up the canyon. Major mistake #3.
The canyon started to get real narrow & walls very steep & big rocks. Cross over to next canyon. Major mistake #4.
Mules slowly picked their way up the steep rocky slope. For some reason I remember seeing a jack rabbit sitting on a rock. It looked as big a deer.
Picking our way down the far side it began to get dark. At the bottom we turned east again Major mistake #5.
By now its dark with just a sliver of moon light. Soon the canyon narrowed & really got steep. I mean so steep (60 degrees?) it would be very hard for a man to clime out of. Giving the mules their head we started up the right slope. Major mistake #6.
Right through a Quaking Aspen thicket. Breaking branches as big as your wrist we pushed on.
Much later we topped out at a barb wire fence, with a road on the other side.. East is to the right,& at last something is going right. In a 1/4 to 1/2 mile there is a huge pine tree down across the fence. We crossed over & I told my buddy that I knew where we were now. He didn't believe me, as per normal.
Fairly soon we came to a wire gate that was falling over. He wanted to go through the gate. I stopped him, as just down from the gate were wild cow chutes.
Now an easy ride down the road, hit a trail & follow it into KP Cienega. Almost back to camp home Free. Well almost.
Next morning dad got us up, I'd lost my saddle blanket, just as we came into the cienega, dad found it.. Fish were what are called bone fish, not fit to eat. In trouble for not even bringing the horse we took to trade back.

You might say we were persons "Non Grata" for a few days. :laughing:

More Stories if you like??

 

[Larro Darro]

Keep the stories coming. I'm really enjoying them.

Larro

 

[crash325]

Keep the stories coming. I'm really enjoying them.

Larro

Thank you.
A little follow up.
The road we were on went to "Lost Lake", Now I talked about how the hill was very steep.
We Pa, his wife, & my 2 little sisters.
This was in 1954 /55 we had 2 trucks in camp Dads old 1941 that had a broken front spring. & a near new GMC. We left the horses at the lake ( maybe 1 foot deep & 50' across after a big rain. headed home at near dark, as in black dark. Starting up the hill (not near as steep as the one we came up on the mules.) that GMC bogged down & stalled. Revving the engine we stated up again, full throttle & it stalled out again. After a few tries the clutch was smoking.

It was decided that I would run ahead back to camp & get the old 41, then comeback for the rest of them.
DI say it was dark. 2 Or 3 times I lost the road & had to strike matches to find it. When I got to Hannagan Meadow's It was almost a straight shot over a good sized hill to camp ( Camp was near P Bar Lake - Smaller than lost lake. ) At the top of the hill the hounds head me & started to howl. Just go to noise.

Go pick up the family about 4 miles back.

Next day use the old Chevy to pull the GMC up the hill. Did back it down to the bottom & get a little run at it. Think that GMC got sold or traded off soon after that.

 

[Larro Darro]

Good story. The old trucks remind me of the stories I grew up hearing from Mamma and Daddy about the first {almost} new car they ever got. It was a '53 Ford, so they most likely got it in 1954. They paid for it with 4 or 5 car loads of whiskey. The fellow with the car was Mr. Lee and owned Lee's motel on the west end of Marianna Florida. When the trunk was full of whiskey, they would take the back seat out of the car and fill that space too. It was in the square 5 gallon lard cans. They could lay two layers back there, making it look kind of like a back seat, then cover it with a quilt. My 1st cousin was a baby then, and they would borrow her to lay on the quilt when they took a load. They had to go through Marianna, so they always went at noon, when the traffic was the thickest, hoping no one would notice how low the car was riding. When they got to the motel, they would offload the whisky into one of the rooms. Mr. Lee was always as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs when the whisky was in his motel. He really didn't have the right temperament for that line of work. After it was paid for, they went up there to pick the car up late one evening. Mrs. Lee had drove it to a tent revival, and they had to go pick it up there. She didn't know anything about the whiskey part of the deal. All she knew was her husband had sold their new car.

Larro

 

[crash325]

At KP cienega before my friend came up.
Uncle Dale showed up with a new mule. It was named Blue Goose, tall & built more like a race horse than a mule. Ole Blue Goose did not like to be in a corral. The corral at KP was good sized & 6 feet high. Ole Blue goose would go over the corral most every night. I think he could actually jump that fence. Hobbles didn't do any good, he still left.

One day when all but me and another young person were there we decided to go riding. 2 Horses left in the corral. One was a big tall black, I chose that one. other young man said that horse could really jump. What he didn't tell me was he Loved to Jump & would look for things to jump'

Just riding along paying little attention & lolly gagging. Trial came to a big ole pine that hd fallen across it. Been there for a while as many people had ridden around it. As I lifted the reins to turn him around the tree, he sailed across it just as pretty as you please.

Now it's one thing to know your going to jump & be ready. It's another for it to be unexpected . Now if you don't know what part of your body comes in contact with saddle horn when you are tossed up & foreword. You My Be A Dude. :laughing:

 

[Larro Darro]

Ouch.

 

[crash325]

A smart person would learn about riding along & not paying attention.

As a kid we had an old horse named 'Bum". He had never bucked in his life & was pretty much a family pet.
Riding across a vacant lot in town, bare back with me and a friend on him.
As we rode past a dead tree my friend broke off a branch. It made a loud pop.
Next thing you know we were laying on the ground, with old bum looking at us.

About 13 or 14 when working at the Haley ranch me and a girl were going for a ride.
She was on my favorite horse, a short wide Arab Appaloosa. Most like riding a rocking chair.
I was on "Jeep" the Major's horse. Tall slender, pretty much like a race horse. He was gentle & easy going, nice ride.
Riding across a clearing a whirl wind came up. It picked up a piece of tin & hit him right across the nose.
When Impressing a girl, it's not such a good thing to get thrown off.
Over his head I went, sure glad I landed head first in some soft sand.
I'm sure she was impressed. Well maybe after she quit laughing. :laughing: