Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

The gal-leg spur event

by Julie Carter

It was August in DeLeon, Texas, and the annual Peach and Melon Festival Parade was about to begin.

Following the usual train of thought for the state of the union mentioned, this was the best darn parade to precede the best darn peach and melon festival in the best darn part of central Texas.

Garland and his brother Jerry were sitting on their horses watching the parade and waiting for their turn to get in line at the end. The cowboys had come to town to be in a parade. No one ever really knew why.

Jerry was riding his good roping horse and Garland was on a fairly green colt. For you pilgrims, green wasn’t his color but his level of experience.

Garland owned a pair of gal-leg spurs he was right proud of and wanted to wear in honor of the occasion. Gal-leg spurs are called such because the shank on the spur is shaped and engraved to mimic a saloon girl’s leg.  The design dates back to spur makers from the late 1800s.

While Garland’s spurs had never been on a boot prior to parade day and they wouldn’t stay in place, he wanted to share this piece of history with the pilgrims of DeLeon. Occasionally he’d have to reach down and put his spurs back into proper position on his boot heel.

The parade was pretty long and the colt Garland was riding got progressively more nervous. Once in a while Garland would walk him off and then ride him back to the waiting spot, trying to settle him down.

After a time of watching the parade, the colt’s nerves were knotted up tight. Garland reached down to adjust his gal-leg spur and the colt came completely untrained and crow hopped around in a circle.

Ever vigilant, Jerry reached over as the colt bucked by him and grabbed the cheek strap of the colt’s bridle. Garland had landed somewhere behind the colt, somewhat ironed out on the pavement.

A lady from the crowd, not realizing Jerry had the colt caught, came running toward him in an attempt to help. As she got closer and closer, the colt started backing up without actually moving his feet. The colt knew Garland was behind him so his attempt to avoid the lady turned into a stretched out squat.

Finally, as the lady got right up close, the colt just sat right down on Garland’s chest. 

Nearby paramedics were there in a flash and began an immediate assessment of the situation. They asked Garland if he had any pain.

A strained reply from Garland was, “You darn right and I know exactly what this horse weighs. Get him off me!”

The area was cleared and medics ascertained that Garland had a slow heart rate. A lady opened his shirt and started rubbing him down with ice.

The paramedics told Garland that this was a public function and by law, he was required to go to the hospital as a precautionary measure. The seven-block ride to the hospital would cost $580.

Jerry asked Garland if he was okay and Garland said he was although he knew he’d be a little sore tomorrow.

“Well then,” said Jerry. “Get the heck up and let’s go home.”

They were not invited back the next year to ride in the DeLeon Peach and Melon Festival parade.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarternm@gmail.com.