Sunday, January 25, 2015

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Sale barn cow

by Julie Carter


Joe Bob is a fairly handy cowboy and has a million friends, give or take a few. The friendships run sporadically hot and cold but almost all will remember to call him when they need help.

One day, he got one of those calls from one of his cattle-owning friends. This buddy had a cow who had been avoiding going to town to the sale ring for a number of years. Her M.O. of escape was to jump fences any time anyone attempted to gather her. As time passed, she got bigger, grew some very wide horns and perfected her quick-jump skills. Joe Bob was asked to go help get her into a trailer. Her time had come.

Joe Bob had his usual model cowpony — a hollow-gutted, little, black specimen that he paid $600 for off the killer truck. He swore he worked better than California Chrome when it came to speed and athletics.
They loaded up Joe Bob's horse and drove to the pasture where the cow was residing. When they got there, the cow was standing near a fence and as expected, she jumped it, landing in the bar ditch.

Joe Bob told his buddy to back way up and he would unload his horse where the cow couldn't see him, and then he'd come around the trailer on the fly and rope her.

With his rope tied on, Joe Bob was determined to make sure he didn't lose it for any reason and let the cow get away. This was a simple mathematical conclusion and a distinct possibility because the cow weighed about as much as Joe Bob's little, black horse. 

As planned, he came on the run from out behind the horse trailer, closed in on the cow before she realized what was happening and handily roped her. The very large loop he'd fashioned to insure it went around her very large horns managed to rope the cow a little deep and that left a lot of slack in the rope.

When she realized she'd been caught, she lowered her head and made a run at Joe Bob. The little, black horse decided his life was in danger, so he spun around and left the scene. Turns out he could indeed run like California Chrome.

In the general melee, the extra slack in the rope made its way around Joe Bob, around his hat, and around most everything. Joe Bob, tied on and trapped, was trying to save his own life. All this was happening on a fairly well-traveled farm to market road. People were driving by waving and clapping. It's not every day that you see a cowboy on the run with a cow in hot pursuit.

They were making pretty good time down the ditch but the cow was gaining. About the time Joe Bob finally got untangled; the cow hit a rough spot and fell down. The friend, delighted that the cow was at least marginally caught, pulled his trailer to where she was laying in the ditch and jumped out with his hot shot.

Joe Bob flipped his rope over the trailer ball welded in place on the top rail for just such an occasion and held her so she couldn't get up. The friend got behind her with the hot shot and she jumped straight into the trailer. They tied her in, shut the gate, and made fast tracks to the sale barn.

That particular sale always had a lot of packer buyers and they were alerted. Meanwhile, the cow was jumping from pen to pen in the back. The auctioneer warned the buyers. "Boys, you are going to get only one look at this cow. Make up your mind quick because she is coming through the ring just one time."

They finally got her in the ring and she never stopped. They caught her on the scales. She brought $1,265, which was split between owner and roper. Both of them went home happy.

No moral to the story except perhaps big loops and wild cattle make for good friendships.

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


No comments: