Any Real Live Cowboys out there ?

[Mule Packer]

I'm thinking Mulepacker probably fits in there too.

Thanks, xray, but...naw. Sure, I cowboyed for several years when I was young and foolish, but I have too much respect for the profession to ever consider myself a real cowboy. I still do some roping and can usually catch what I'm aimin' at, and have even been fortunate enough to own a couple of good ropin' horses in my lifetime, but I don't consider myself a good roper by any means. I've beaten a few young, hotshot ropers a couple of times, but I'm the first to admit, it was pure luck. I don't think I could make those tosses again even on my best day.

I do consider myself a packer, though, if that counts. I volunteered with the U.S. Forest Service packing the gear and supplies into wilderness areas for their trail crews with my pack string. I taught horse and mule packing for about 12 years and can still throw a double-diamond on the top pack of a recalcitrant mule. I've been kicked, bucked, bitten, and stomped on. I've wound up in the hospital a couple of times from bucking accidents, but I don't consider myself a real cowboy.

As for riding bulls...not on your life. I've got a yellow stripe down my back about 12-inches wide! Besides, I've had too many friends wind up in the hospital because they wanted to impress some little "buckle bunny." (Definition: Buckle Bunny - A cute young lady that wants to be your girlfriend mainly in order to wear your trophy buckle.)

I've been riding horses ever since I was three years old. At least that's what my folks have told me. I can't count how many times I've been bucked off a young horse or mule, but I can count how many times I've been seriously hurt from some of those accidents. (Anybody tells you they've never been bucked off a horse, just lets you know they haven't ridden much.) I've broken several bones due to horses and mules. I've been in the hospital x-ray room so many times now that I probably glow in the dark. My wife has made me promise to stay off the young colts now that I'm 67 years old.

I still have horses and mules. Still pack my sons into their elk camp. But, no, I don't consider myself a real cowboy. My wife thinks I am. At least that's what she tells her girlfriends. My kids think I am. And my grandkids think I'm a cowboy. Even the cowboys who live in our valley think I am, but like I said, I have too much respect for the profession to ever consider myself one. On the bright side, though, I'm glad I have 'em fooled.

But, thanks for the compliment anyway.

 

[cobra357]

Never tried it my self but worked with a guy in my younger days who was a steer wrestler. He described it as jumpinp off the back of a pickup truck at 35mph and tackling a mail box. No thanks.

Heard to become a bull rider you fill your mouth with marbles and hop on. Spit out a marble every time you ride. Once you've lost all your marbles you are a bull rider.

 

[shotgun693]

Well, I got to do some cowboying but it was years ago. We moved cows, checked fences, hunted new calves, branded and such chores. I never had any desire to be a Rodeo rider. I could do some stuff but knew I wasn't that good. I did own and get throwed by a 17 hh mule by the name of Willie Nelson. I didn't think it was possible to get thrown that high.....but it was.

 

[Inusuit]

I was raised on a working cattle ranch in eastern Colorado. My dad trained horses for pocket money in the early 1900's. He always said when started riding bulls, you stopped being a cowboy and became a damn fool. I never saw a reason to disagree, although we kids annoyed the yearling steers trying to ride them.

Not necessarily relevant, but we didn't have electricity in the ranch house until I was 5 years old, no indoor plumbing until I started high school.

 

[arjay]

I remember my father putting in indoor bathrooms for lots of folks back in the 50s and 60s around here.My mother remembers coming here from Scotland in the early 50s and thinking Oh my [emoji33]

 

[walkin jack]

Neil and Willie wondered the same thing....

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad8PMCe7UME[/ame]

 

[Aaron_Mosser]

We raised a bull for a meal & tried riding him a few times when I was around 12 years old, lasted maybe 2 seconds. It was very docile until you were about to get on! Wouldn't say I was a cowboy though

 

[reddogge]

My wife and I used to be able to do a mean two step and waltz while wearing boots and a Stetson. One time we were mistaken for native Texans in Austin while stepping out of an elevator. Does that count?

 

[chud333]

Had a chance to see Bodacious years ago. Cured me of any thoughts of trying to ride. However I did ride a few big farm pigs many years ago.

Bodacious dedication

https://youtu.be/EhtPYvT8Mmw?t=39

I vividly remember that rank old Bull. Never seen him in
person but i seen a lot of the (attempted rides), on TV.
The Tuff Hedemann ride where Bodacious broke near
every bone in his face is still etched on my mind.

Chuck

 

[chud333]

Members Iggy, Keith44spl, and Mulepacker are real cowboys.

Member JimmyJ is a "Wanna B" but he can't ride, shoot, lasso, play a guitar, sing, or fast on the draw. However he did stay in a Motel 6 and watched the western channel.

Jimmy, Yourself, old Dave, Iggy and Mulepacker were on
my mind when i started this thread. I thought maybe i
could get a good old story from days past outta one of
you Cowboys.

Chuck

 

[chud333]

So riding horses is not good enough to count ?? !!

Never did Bulls..............

My first "Bad ride" was when I was twelve, In Red Bluff Calif.
was the third rider on "Jackson" the ranch mule that had just about enough fun for the day. The other two kids had fun.........
I got a fast buck and run to the end of the property and a buck into a bob wire fence. After getting out of the fence I just went down the creek below and laid in the cold water to ease my pain.

Handled the stock and pushed cattle on and off and sometimes when a Nevada livestock company ran short of help. The guys not always getting hurt, some just not getting away from a good bottle of hooch, way too late.

Good point Ed,
I never meant to imply you or anybody was not a true Cowboy
if'n you didn't ride Bulls. I was just curious as to how many of
our esteemed members here had ever been up on one.
My Grandfather raised a few head of cattle here in central
Indiana and i will always remember the time it came to sell
his big old White Charolais Bull. I was just a young-un so i
was simply a spectator as my grandpaw and dad and uncle
tried to guide the behemoth into the loading gate of a stock
truck for transport. That sucker wheeled and charged my
uncle near missing him and ran smack into the fence around
the pasture he was in, two newer "Hedge" fence posts snapped
like toothpicks from the force of that Bull hitting nothing but
wire. I was in Awe !!!

Chuck

 

[Iggy]

There's rodeo cowboys and there's cowhands. I reckon I'm just an old cowhand. I tried the rodeo bidness for a while but I spent more money gittin' healed up than I won.

I grew up on a ranch, broke some ponies, and thought I was quite a hand. I rode a lot of saddle broncs on the rodeo circuit for a year or two. Only rode two bulls, my first and my last one and they was one and same old bull.

It's one thing to sit on the hurricane deck of an old pony. When he bucks you off, and plenty did, it's one thing, but when that old bull hooks you in the face with a horn, and knocks out two teeth before you can get unwound from the booger it don't seem to have much future.

I got some smarter by the time I was 22 and quit the rodeo.

Went to college for a while and toted a badge for a few years.

Went back to ranchin' for 30 years. Spent a lot of that time astraddle of some mighty fine cow ponies, and thoroughly enjoyed their company. Horses are as good a friends as dogs. I'm pretty much retired now but the ranchin' is still in my blood.

I don't know if I ever achieved "cowboyhood" or not but I sure had a good time playin' like I was one.

There's some stories at the bottom of this home page.. Now keep in mind, Ol Ig will tell you a story 3 different ways afore he'd tell you a lie. Some are true, some ain't. It's up to you to figger which is which.
Chip's Home Page

 

[bigchuck83]

I rode bulls a bit in high school and for a few years after, never was really good at it. Never was great with horses so making a living from a saddle working cattle or riding around isn't for me.

 

[Iggy]

This is my friend's grandson. He is a real cowboy.

Now those are real cowhands right there.

 

[Mule Packer]

Maybe keith44spl will weigh in on this conversation. I know ol' Dave has forked some rank ones in the past. I also know he's worked with mules, too, and you can't work with mules for any length of time without having some...uh..."memorable experiences," so to speak.

I'm not sure if he's ever cinched himself down on some bulls, though. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if he did.

He and Iggy are both a couple of ol' cowboys in my book...and that's a real compliment.

 

[oldiegoldie]

You can tell if a guy's a bull rider....wears size 13 boots and a size 1 hat.

 

[Iggy]

Anybody that has dealt with and gained the trust of a bunch of wise old mules can stand tall among the best hands around.

 

[grizz700]

Rode bulls in college on rodeo team and then for a few years after college. Never got hurt to serious. Then I figured that since I was still in one piece I would quit riding and become a bull fighter instead. Did that for a few years until one morning I woke up with my face all bandaged up. Called a friend of mine and ask him if anything strange happened last night. He started laughing and ask how I felt at which time I ask him what happened. He told me that during the bull riding event I tried to switch sides on a bull that was coming at me with a cowboy going over into the well. The bull got me under the chin and lifted me about 10' in the air and when I hit the ground I piled up like a wet rag. Place went quite and then I jumped in the TA-DA stance and proceeded to face plant the ground. Hauled me off in the ambulance. I decided that would be my last bull fight.

 

[kthom]

Yeah, I've been on a few bulls, never for long enough to make any money at it for sure. And I've got a scar under my chin to remind me every time I shave. Never thought it was a smart thing to do, even then. I guess I did it just to say I did it. Impressed some gurls doing it. Proved to them I didn't really have much good sense!!!

But being a cowboy .... nah! Been throwed off several horses and been burned tryin' to hold down a too big calf being branded. Got a dose of black leg vaccine once in the middle of a branding storm. Been armpit deep in the back end of a cow many times, usually during the coldest wind or blizzard you can imagine. I wouldn't take for those experiences because they make me really appreciate those tough old boys who do it day in and day out in all kinds of weather and continue to do it beyond the time when their age and their crippled worn out bodies would dictate retirement from it. Trouble is, being a sure enough cowboy never paid enough to buy much, although most of 'em have a good saddle and equipment. Some of my best friends are sure enough cowboys and I admire them. Me? I'm just a boy that's spent a lot of time around cows and some horses and have been to a few rodeos and was foolish enough to try to ride some broncs and a few bulls. My momma didn't raise the smartest son in the world, but she did pass along enough mother wit to allow me to tell that there wasn't any future to be had in riding bulls so I left it to others pretty quickly. The bulls I tried to ride wouldn't/couldn't hold a candle for today's rodeo bulls buck by, but they didn't have much trouble landing me in the dirt. So I quit that dangerous stuff and started riding motorcyles! Never had one bite me or kick me (much), and I didn't have to feed the motorcycles year round to get to take a ride once in a while. These days, I have also given up that activity, but I have some really good memories of all of these things. Wouldn't take for them!

Rock on, Mule Packer! You have my regard, Sir!!

 

[model70hunter]

Have lots of scars from some end over end horse wrecks, that was both of us going end over end in the same place at the same time.

When we were young my Bro and I thought we might like it, but sometimes life gets in the way. He stayed closer to true than I and until his rotator cuff gave out a few years ago the 60 something pup could still heel very well.

No Bulls for me I applaud the few above who tried it. We did ride some 800 pound steers, it isn't the same as a killer bull, except for the quick flight to the ground.

We broke horses for a genuine old horse trader that lived 3 farms over and across the river. He hit all the horse auctions and there were many more back then.

We'd hustle over on our horses, swim the river, swim not wade, and see what he brought home. Some were tame, some were green, some didn't know who in the heck we were and didn't want to know. Then there was the real walleyed, loco weed eating ones. Most of them had a psychosis, crazys, not safe to be around. Got a couple of remembrances of them. We would get them to a point where they would shake and tremble, roll their eyes around and wouldn't bite or kick to hard and there was always some one wanting a good cheap horse. Boy did he have a horse for them.

One fine Friday night we went to the rodeo in town for the weekend. Bro, me and an older neighbor, I seem to remember alcohol being involved, he signed us up, he went first, this is a real rodeo bull, brahma dna and all.

My bro and I were saved, about at the O of the oh shoot word one utters when you discover you have erred our neighbor went flying off into the night stars. He hit on the point of the shoulder and broke his clavicle. As fate would have it we were tasked with taking him to the hospital. We said oh darn, our turns coming up, it sounded more like kids whistling by the cemetary.

I still have a quarter mare, my knees have gone bad, I need a 5 gallon bucket to cheat my way on. Man I hate this part of old age. As a little kid we rode grandpas mules and work horses. They were as tall as a sapling, we had to pull them up next to the wagon or a pond bank to jump on bareback. Well I've made full circle.