by Julie Carter
Multitasking is a buzzword used to describe the skill of doing several things simultaneously. Cowboys are frequent multitaskers, especially when combining a little fun with their work.
Jess routinely worked at his own brand of multitasking. This particular day, he was doctoring fresh yearlings and riding a green-broke colt -- always a recipe for a little excitement.
The big blue roan colt had kind eyes, a solid-built frame, long legs and a good heart. What he didn't have was any experience with cattle, a rope or a cowboy.
Jess was riding a brush pasture that bordered the Canadian River. The Panhandle has plenty of good grass under the mesquites and, in summer, the mesquite will yield a good crop of mesquite beans that pack the fat and sass on cattle and horses.
The colt, bought in early spring, would be a finished cow horse by first frost. That would put a little extra jingle in Jess' pockets beyond his cowboy wages. The plan was coming together.
Jess plow-reined the blue colt around mesquites and over downed cedars, teaching him how to place his feet. While the training was in progress, he watched for sick cattle lying out away from the herd.
The sick ones were roped slow and easy and then doctored. All the while, the colt was learning those skills under the quiet hands of the cowboy. Jess got to feeling quite confident in his new horse about the same time he got tired of roping sick yearlings around the neck.
His thoughts wandered to the upcoming team roping in town and his need for practice at roping cattle with horns. Coincidentally, a big, coming 3-year-old heifer showed up on his radar. She had either been missed in the previous pasture gathers or had walked the river and taken up residence with the yearlings.
She had a nice spread of horns and to Jess' way of thinking, that would put the finishing touch on a good day for the colt.
He built a loop and with a touch of his spur to his horse, he rode up on the heifer and roped her handily. He set the colt, stopped the heifer, dropped his rope down her right side and proceeded with some cowboy rope magic to put a half hitch on her back feet and lay her down.
Holding her back feet tight, he rode up on the heifer, reached down and took his rope off her horns. About that time, in rapid succession, the heifer came straight up, the colt went straight to the left, and Jess found himself standing on the ground with a heifer on the fight and a scared colt.
The heifer had never been roped and the colt had never seen a rope lying on the ground. The heifer's genetic make-up included plenty of Mexican fighting-bull blood so she chased Jess around a mesquite while the colt eyed the rope like it was a monster. The colt didn't run, but he thought about it.
Eventually, the heifer got tired of the chase and walked off a little ways to catch her breath. Jess began easing up to the colt so as not to scare him off as headquarters was a long walk back.
About the time Jess got close to his horse, the heifer got a new burst of “mad” and charged him around the mesquite a few more times. She repeated this for two hours. Finally, she walked off far enough for Jess to catch his colt, coil up the rope and get mounted.
Jess decided his next multitasking would include riding quietly back to headquarters and doing his roping practice in the arena.
It was obvious the lesson for the day was his.
Julie can be reached for comment at jcarternm@live.com.
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