By Roy Cole

Ranch Horse competitions are a relatively new equestrian sport. Of course, informally, cowboys have always been competitive about who had the best horse. A cowboy’s pride and self worth is all connected to being known as a good stockman and how well others value his horse. Every job a cowboy does is dependent upon how well his horse performs.

Left to Right: Candice Thompson, Dylan Ruppert, Samantha Mousel, Roy Cole.

The Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture started its Ranch Horse Team in 2008 and initially aligned itself with the American Stock Horse Association for three main reasons:
1    Part of the ASHA mission statement: “to help people ride a better horse.”
2    ASHA’s commitment to education.
3    The 3 skill levels to compete in for college students, and 5 levels for individuals.
Utilizing classroom material obtained through ASHA, horse training clinics before ASHA shows, and competing in the collegiate division enables us to teach the students at NCTA to be better riders with better horses, and to develop their own training philosophies. Self confidence is enhanced by having skill levels to compete in, from the beginning rider to the professional.

ASHA Ranch Horse shows are based on 4 separately scored classes that facilitate ASHA’s desire to help people move away from the recent trend of specialized horses to a more versatile all-around horse. These classes are intended to showcase a horse’s natural way of moving and performing maneuvers just as the horse would perform them on the ranch every day:
1    Ranch Riding is a patterned hybrid pleasure class with maneuvers.
2    Trail is just common sense obstacles found in everyday ranching. A class in a natural setting would be the ideal.
3    Reining is to show that a horse can be willingly guided while performing several skilled maneuvers.
4    Working Cow Horse is simply taking all the maneuvers and skills needed in the preceding classes and combining them to show the horse’s ability to work a cow along with his natural “cow sense.” Scores from all 4 classes are combined into an All Around score that truly shows the horse’s versatility.

The ASHA Collegiate division has 14 schools listed, but more are joining every day. NCTA hasn’t had any National Champions yet; however, they have had some top ten finishers despite the fact they are competing against 4-year colleges.

Ranch Horse Team is an actual academic class at NCTA with lecture and lab portions. We also have an “adult” or non-traditional portion to Ranch Horse Team that is fairly popular. We call Ranch Horse class a horse training class, not a cow chasing class. It is easy to teach a horse to run fast and chase a cow, but it is hard to teach a horse to chase a cow while being under control and keep the cow under control all at the same time. We actually use cattle very little in our class due to the expense and limited access to fresh cattle.

The students work on the maneuvers needed to make a good cow horse. These fundamentals consist of supplying the head and neck, controlling the shoulders, controlling the hip, controlling the ribs, and stopping. NCTA has provided us with the Everett Stencel Livestock Teaching Center indoor arena, which is one of the best indoor arenas in the country to use for practice, with a mechanical cow. Between equine and other animal classroom activities, various team practices, weekend clinics and shows, NCTA keeps the facility booked nearly 100% of the time.

We train on five basic fundamentals in every class, then combine these five basic fundaments into all the maneuvers needed to show in all four events. The mechanical cow is able to be programmed at a speed to match the ability of the horse, so that a “wild” cow doesn’t overwhelm the horse and teach it bad habits while it is just learning. The mechanical cow helps the horses learn fundamentals at a slow speed, so they can work up to “tie your hat on with a stampede string,” high speed. It also helps with “adrenaline pumping,” runs down the fence, kicks dirt in your face, turns at full speed, and makes hard sliding stops!

The biggest challenge to our program is trying to keep sponsors lined up so the students can afford to compete. The students pay their own expenses to haul and show their horses. The long distance shows can run from $400 to $600 per show. The team welcomes sponsors and is willing to advertise for those sponsors.

NCTA also sponsors some nationally known clinicians at the college as well as local guest instructors in all equestrian disciplines. They are open to outside riders as well as NCTA students. Most clinics have special reduced rates for the students. Just a couple of the clinicians associated with the Ranch Horse Team are Les Vogt Horsemanship clinics and Sherman Tegtmeirer Reining clinics.

Les Vogt is a NRCHA/NRHA trainer and has 15 world championships to his name.
His next clinic will be October 7, 8 & 9. Les’ clinics are horsemanship clinics. His clinics will help performance at any level and any discipline. He tries to help participants better control their horse so they can enjoy riding it no matter what they want to do with it. His clinics are limited to 10-12 riders. Clinics fill quickly, so contact the college at (308) 367-5293 for more information. Spectators will also be able to watch or “audit” Les’ clinic for a fee.

Sherm is an NRHA trainer and renowned Non-Pro coach. His clinics are advertised as reining clinics, but they are horsemanship clinics. Whether one is just a beginning rider or an advanced reiner, Sherm can help one be able to train a horse more successfully to get more enjoyment from their riding time. Sherm’s next clinic will be June 18 for a tuneup just before the Nebraska State 4-H Horse Show. In the fall Sherm will have a clinic October 15. His clinics are limited in size. To sign up for a clinic or for more information call NCTA at (308) 367-5293.

Ranch Horse tuneup for the State 4-H Horse Show is June 25 at NCTA. Call (308) 367-5293 for more information.

For information on registering for classes and academic programs go to www.ncta.unl.edu or call toll free (800) 328-7847 or (308) 367-4124.

R.P. Smith: Cowboy Poet

By Eric Melvin Reed

This month, Eric Melvin Reed, editor of Saddle Up Nebraska, interviewed R.P. Smith to give us a look at the man behind the poetry.

R.P. Smith / Photo courtesy of R.P. Smith

Some kids know they are going to be a writer before they grow up; R.P. Smith had no idea.

These days, Smith, who is from Broken Bow, Neb., is billed as Nebraska’s “homegrown” humorist and cowboy poet, travelling from Texas to Canada, Florida to Montana and a dozen states in between to perform his brand of country commentary and cowboy poetry. 

However, to hear Smith describe it, his whole rise came about practically by accident.

In fact, it kind of happened overnight.

The discovery-that Smith could write poetry, and maybe even write it well-came in 1987, the day before a friend’s wedding. The friend, who was living in western Nebraska at the time, worked as a cow buyer for a packing plant. That day Smith just happened to have a bad experience with a cow buyer.

“I sold a fence-crawling cow, and she went where she needed to-to the packing plant. But she sold by the head, and I thought I came out a little short on the deal-not an uncommon feeling in this line of work,” Smith says.

That night, Smith’s wife, Beth, woke him up to watch a couple of cowboy poets appearing on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

“I had seen Baxter Black once a few years earlier, but for some reason that night he and Waddie Mitchell really clicked with me. I enjoyed what they had done so much that I couldn’t get back to sleep. I finally got up and wrote a poem about getting taken on the cow sale. I gave it to my friend as part of his wedding present, figuring he was guilty by association and that he might get a kick out of it.”

Smith was 27 when he wrote “Ballad of 148,” and it was as if a switch had been thrown and a new gift brought to light.

When he decided to start performing, it was mostly at community gatherings-wedding showers, Grange meetings, churches, and family get-togethers-where he could try out some of his early material. “I was always a little nervous because these were the folks that were most important to me, and you care a lot about how they respond,” he says.

Smith performed for a group he was unfamiliar with for the first time at the first Old West Days, a cowboy poetry gathering in Valentine, Neb. Since then, he has missed only one Old West Days in the last nineteen years. He says the people he continues to meet through that event are a huge encouragement for him.

Smith’s radio program came later. His father was a director for the farmer-rancher owned radio station KRVN. “He put a bug in some folks’ ears that they should make a place for cowboy poetry,” Smith says. “Jerry Bennett had the Sunday morning time slot and rounded up some cassette tapes; he did a great job of picking things out. When he started spending winters down south, Jerry Braugn carried on with the show; when he passed away I was given the chance to keep it going.”

Smith has since learned enough about the Internet and mp3s to make his show-which includes commentary as well as poetry-downloadable at his website.

Much has changed for Smith since that first poem and those early performances live and on the radio. He is now the author of a book “Ride Through Rhyme, 1995″ and three CDs “Early Riser, 1998; Stage of Life, 2001; and It’s Only Fair, 2009″. In 2010, he released his first DVD, “Caught in the Act,” showing a live performance he delivered at the Star Theatre in Curtis, Neb.

Smith refers to his local Nebraska performances as his “bread and butter.”

“The Nebraska shows really seem to work the best,” he says. “I can go and get back without a great deal of disruption to what is going on with my family and on the ranch. I really appreciate the folks. They have given me so many opportunities to entertain over the past nearly twenty years.”

During those twenty years, organizations in all but five of Nebraska’s 93 counties have invited Smith to perform.

Smith gets most of his material from what is going on at the ranch. Some of the material is inspired by his family. He says this gives his work an authenticity and down-to-earth quality that strikes a familiar chord with audiences. He describes his work as “historical fictionŠ embellished for accuracy.”

“I usually work off of an experience that I have had on the ranch and try to shape it into something that others might find interestingŠ I enjoy playing around with rhyme patterns and especially enjoy an interior rhyme pattern that was often used by Robert Service. They take more work to write and if you lose your place while reciting them they are tougher to recover from, but it sounds really good when they work.”

Smith also spends a lot of time reading other poets. “Lately, I have been reading more on grass and cattle management than I have of poetry,” he admits. “I did receive a book from a cousin for Christmas that has some poetry written in the late eighteen-hundreds and early nineteen-hundreds that has been interesting. I usually do some swapping with other poets at a few gatherings each year, either books or CDs. So I get to see and hear quite a bit of what is being written at the grass roots.”

Smith says he pulls out South Dakota poet Elizabeth Ebert when he really wants to see how cowboy poetry should be written.

Smith’s faith in God is another inspiration for his poetry: “I try to have my mind opened up to where if the Lord has something he would like me to say, I’m ready to listen.” A fourth generation rancher, Smith is at work on the ranch year round-in the winter trying to figure out how to get the cows fed and the ice broke while he is away at performances, and in the summer fencing, moving cattle and irrigating. He says any day he can go without turning a key or starting an engine is a day he considers good.

A passion for working with livestock figures as strongly in Smith’s poetry as his faith in God. His favorite poem is “Song That Has No Tune,” which ties together various elements of the calving season and credits God for what he describes as “the blessing allowing me to be in the lines of work that I am in, ranching and performing.”

Sometimes, the farther away Smith lives from the performance the better prepared he is. He says the crowd also plays a role in how a performance shapes out.

“I try to take into consideration the group that I am speaking to. I do not necessarily try to tell them what I think they want to hear; I try to tie in stories and poems that might encourage the audience, and to make a connection between what I do and the lives they lead. There are times that I might be the only rancher that some of these folks ever met. I try to do a good job as an agricultural ambassador, and as an ambassador for the Lord.”

When it comes to performing, Smith strives for a balance of humor and reflection in his presentations. “Sometimes,” he says “I hit it better than others.”

Smith and his wife graduated from the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (then the University of Nebraska School of Technical Agriculture) in 1980. He is often asked to speak with NCTA students about writing and performing poetry. Some of the students want to know what it takes to become a poet. He tells them to work at becoming observant, to listen closely to the elements around them and to have fun putting the words together.

“A poem might only really mean anything to a very limited number of people,” he says. “If a piece means something to just one person, even if that person is the author, there is value in writing it down. If a person only writes what he thinks will get a laugh from an audience, it might tend to get a bit shallow or go in a direction that you really do not want to go.”

Smith advises beginning poets not to underestimate the ability of the listener to understand what the poet is trying to say. “Don’t sell the listener short. But if you are speaking to a group that is not familiar with your craft, you do not want them blindly charging the other direction the next time they hear the words ‘Cowboy Poet.’”

Smith also tries to make the point when talking to young people that the time they spend improving their public speaking skills will serve them well regardless of what career they go into.

Currently, Smith is planning performances at NCTA in Curtis, Neb., in March and at a chamber of commerce banquet hosted by the Curtis State Bank in April.

Song That Has No Tune

By R.P. Smith

An alarm sounds inside my head;
I force myself from a warm dry bed,
With a lantern to guide my site
I stumble into the frigid night.
The snow raises its voice to complain,
As if my footsteps cause it pain,
I hope all is well and I’ll be back soon,
My steps sound an introduction,
To the song that has no tune.

Very few men get the chance
To take a night check on the ranch,
A Horned Owl spreads its wings in flight,
Casts shadow on the snow so bright,
I say “It’s me” when he questions who,
And then he asks me, “Who are you?”
From a new perch he will croon
His verse in the song that has no tune.

The coyotes sing without refrain,
A haunting chorus of pleasure and pain,
The damsels’ whistle, their suitors’ fight,
Their voices rise into the night
With neither base nor treble clef;
I praise my Lord that I’m not deaf.
Beneath star filled sky and crescent moon,
They sing the chorus of the song that has no tune.

The heifer is alarmed by her offspring’s birth;
She jumps to her feet to prove her worth,
Tries to warm the calf with her hot breath,
He must rise soon to ward off death,
Now she dries it with her tongue,
And hums a song of encouragement to her young,
The calf is on its feet and nursing soon,
Providing rhythm for the song that has no tune.

The cold night air it stings my face;
Cold tries to stop time in its place,
I pause and wonder if I know,
Is this now or a hundred years ago?
This song sung as sung for centuries before,
I listen as I walk once more,
Reappearing like the land of Brigadoon,
This ancient song that has no tune 

 Some think the life I talk to is past,
I assure you friends; I’m not the last,
To herd the stock that graze God’s earth.
It was shepherds first told of His Son’s birth-
They were the first to tell the world
And on stockmen his blessings are still unfurled.
If our Savior tarries, though I believe He’s coming soon,
Stockmen a thousand years from now will know
The song that has no tune.

Nebraska 4-H Profile: Courtney Kral

By Noel Ochoa, Veterinary Technology Student, Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture

Courtney Kral excels in speed events. Photos by Jeannie Kral

Horses come into peoples’ lives through many ways and for a variety of reasons. For Courtney Kral of Roseland, Neb., this passion was introduced by her Aunt Joni. Her passion for horses all started when Aunt Joni bought Kral her first pony.

Kral has been a 4-H member since she was in third grade and 8 years old. She graduated from Silver Lake High School in 2009 and is currently a second year Vet Tech student at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis, Nebraska. In high school, she played basketball her freshman year and also did High School Rodeo (HSR) from her sophomore through senior year. During her junior and senior year, she went to state for HSR.

In 4-H, Kral competes in all events available, ranging from halter her junior and senior high school years to speed events  this very day. She has four of sixteen horses owned by her family, all Quarter horses, except for one Paint. Most of her horses had riding experience before she bought them. After she buys them, she furthers their training and practice in the area in which they are confident and naturally suited. Kral doesn’t usually do too much traveling for horse shows but in the past has traveled every weekend in the fall and spring to rodeos for HSR.

Kral has competed in a few open shows but other than the Webster County 4-H show, she only does speed events. At the Webster County 4-H show, she won Performance All Around and Reserve Champion Speed her junior year and got to compete in the Round Robin Competition her sophomore and junior years of high school.

When asked what is her favorite thing about working with horses, Kral stated: “When your hard work pays off and you win.” She plans to finish her Vet Tech degree at NCTA and work at a mixed animal practice. Most importantly, she plans to continue riding and rodeoing as long as she possibly can.

Courtney is correct when she says working with horses is hard work. It takes a lot of time, patience, money and dedication. With this passion having been instilled in her so young, Kral has grown up loving horses and developing
the qualities a good 4-H member, horse rider and show person must possess in order to succeed.

Many jobs available in animal care
New Equine Health Management program offered at NCTA

By Eric Melvin Reed

When it comes to pairing one’s passion for animals with the need for a job, few options can compete with the unpredictability and excitement that comes with a career in the veterinary field.

Today’s students encounter a limitless range of options when setting out to find a career path. Among those who claim to love animals, an overwhelming number choose careers in veterinary medicine or veterinary technology.

That’s understandable. The demand for jobs in the veterinary industry is just as high, or higher, than the popularity of the profession itself. The U.S. Department of Labor projects the need for veterinarians in the United States to remain at “excellent” for years to come.

Wages for veterinarians also continue to look good. The median annual wage of all veterinarians in the U.S. in 2008 was $79,000. The average starting salary for those working exclusively with large animals exceeded $60,000.
With the number of veterinarian openings expected to increase much faster than the average, it is no surprise that people think of veterinarians and veterinarian technicians when they think of jobs for animal lovers.

Job prospects for veterinarians are extremely good in cities and suburbs, where people in highly populated areas care deeply about their pets and are willing to pay for services once considered unconventional for animals, such as cancer treatment and kidney transplants.

In rural areas, job prospects are even better. That’s because there’s a lot less competition for work in remote environments where people are less willing to live.

In the past, veterinarians have collaborated with human doctors and researchers to find cures and treatments for people around the world.
Veterinarians have played a substantial role in combating malaria and yellow fever and testing new drug therapies and surgical techniques. In fact, a number of surgical techniques now used on humans, including hip and knee joint replacements, were developed by veterinarians.

Student Chase Barnhart examines a skull. Photo by Eric Melvin Reed.

Given their vast array of skills and knowledge, some veterinarians are also engaged in the security of the nation’s food supply, serving as food safety inspectors, livestock inspectors and advisors.

The nature of veterinary work is changing at a rapid pace. Today’s graduates must stay current with the latest research in animal and medical science. In certain aspects, modern practices now mirror human care. Today’s physicians perform hip replacements, blood transfusions, and work with the latest technology from lasers to magnetic resonance imaging systems and ultrasound devices.

Large animal veterinarians, including those who work primarily with horses, must also stay current in a rapidly changing field. The previous idea of the “horse doctor” is an anachronism. Some of today’s equine veterinarians are among the most highly specialized practitioners in medicine, capable of meeting a range of demands put forth by an equally demanding equine industry that requires veterinarians not just for farms and ranches, but for sports, recreation, and entertainment in public and private enterprises.

Colleges, likewise, have to adapt to a demanding industry and the needs of students from a multitude of backgrounds around the country.

Veterinary and veterinary technology programs in Nebraska

At present, the only Nebraska institution of higher learning to offer a bachelor’s degree with a major in veterinary science or veterinary technology is the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), which is accredited by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC).

The University of Nebraska at Kearney offers a bachelor’s degree in Pre-Veterinary Medicine, but for the small number of Nebraskans who choose to go on and pursue a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) degree and practice as veterinarians, their only option is to leave the state, though UNL does offer Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees from its School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Each fall, UNL admits a handful of students to its Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine, a program offered in partnership with Iowa State University.

Dr. Cory Reng, D.V.M., Assistant Professor at NCTA. Photo by Eric Melvin Reed.

Many students that like the outdoors and want to work with animals choose a career as a veterinary technician, a position comparable to a nurse in the realm of human doctors, rather than a veterinarian.

Many Nebraskans choose to pursue a degree as a veterinary technician because of the rising costs of tuition and the number of years it takes to become a veterinarian. Their decision may also be influenced by the highly selective admissions processes at the handful of veterinary schools in the United States. Graduates who seek to be full veterinarians must complete a 3-4 year residency program of intensive training and be licensed or board certified to practice.

Students who wish to be licensed veterinary technician assistants (rather than assistants,) must pass a national exam to become licensed as a veterinary technician. Currently, only three colleges in Nebraska are accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) to offer associate degrees in veterinary technology. The longest running of those programs, accredited since 1973, is the Veterinary Technology program at the University of Nebraska-Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (NCTA) in Curtis. Northeast Community College in Norfolk and Vatterott College in Omaha also offer AVMA-accredited programs.

NCTA to offer new Equine Health Management Option

This year, the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture announced a new Equine Health Management Option for students already working in an equine veterinary hospital or wanting to specialize more than the general technician. The new degree program, which has just been implemented and is the first in the state, will provide students with the skills and knowledge they need to better care for and relieve the suffering of horses. This will offer greater opportunities for students hoping to open up career tracks in specialty clinics, race tracks, breeding facilities, training facilities, private industries, equine research facilities, equine veterinary hospitals and veterinary colleges and universities.

Andrew Bose performs a physical exam on one of the college animals at NCTA. Photo by Tiffany Taylor.

The Associate of Applied Science degree will generally take two years to complete or can be added to another NCTA degree with only two or three additional semesters of classes.

Barbara Berg, Division Chair of Veterinary Technology at NCTA, says the college’s new Equine Health Management option will prepare students with very specific equine healthcare training and skills at a time when the nation is being challenged to meet the needs created by a growing number of horses and horse owners.

“These graduates will have an outstanding opportunity to be part of a health care team within many equine industry areas,” said Berg.  “Within a veterinary clinic this person could provide much of the daily nursing care, diagnostic testing and surgical preparation of the equine patient as well as client education; thus allowing the veterinarians to see more patients, perform additional surgeries, diagnose and prescribe medicine. The result is higher quality healthcare for an increased number of clients.”

For those who love “hands on” work, NCTA complements classroom study with interactive and participatory learning that utilizes live horses outside of the classroom. NCTA keeps animals, including horses, year round for use in its veterinary technology classes. Student employees help care for the animals.

Students studying under the new Equine Health Management option will be required to complete the college’s standard core classes, which include general education courses, mainly in math, science and communication.
Students will also take a number of equine veterinary technician classes and health and medical classes. The curriculum includes subjects such as equine safety, nutrition, diagnostic imaging, laboratory diagnostics, diseases, pharmacology, reproduction, emergency medicine, anesthesia and surgery.
Students interested in careers as veterinary technicians should prepare in high school by taking as many science, biology, and math courses as possible.

Internships are required as part of every NCTA degree, allowing additional first-hand and “real world” experience. Although most veterinary technicians work in private practices, students under the new Equine Health Management option will not be restricted to internships in private practices.

Many states require veterinary technicians and technologists to pass a credentialing exam following coursework to test their competency and ability to conduct work under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian.

NCTA emphasizes practical skills in a clinical or laboratory setting. As the program grows, students and faculty look forward to major renovations to the college’s veterinary technology facilities set to begin this year, along with other renovations on campus and the building of a new dormitory and a new $9.7 million Education Center that will provide new classrooms, an auditorium, and accommodations for the Horticulture/ Agronomy Systems and Veterinary Technology systems program.

A bit on bits

By Dr. Cory S. Reng, DVM, assistant professor, Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture
While I was out traveling to a convention this weekend I stopped by a tack store, because who can resist a tack store, especially if there is a “super blowout sale” sign in the window. As is my custom, I always peruse the arsenal of bits available to the horse owner. While examining the very pretty, shiny, collection of bits, I happened to overhear a common tack store conversation.
“I am looking for a bit with more whoa,” said the young female horse owner, “what do you recommend?” The equally young salesperson started walking the buyer through the selection of bits on the wall, guaranteed to add control, stop, lift shoulders, and make perfect head sets. The buyer said that would be great, but she didn’t want one that was too severe. She then picked out a bit with eight inch shanks and a cathedral port.
The whole conversation got me to wondering. How are people measuring severity? By buzz words and sales pitches, or by looking at a bit’s features and considering the mechanical forces that these features place on the soft tissue of a horse’s mouth.
Remember that a bit is a simple machine, like a shovel. Its shape and length move forces from one point to another, like any other lever. Bits are a second-class lever, in that the attachment of the bit to the headstall is the fulcrum, the shank is the effort arm, the purchase is the load arm and the mouthpiece is the load. The force that can be exerted on the load
(mouth) is a function of the total length of the lever from the end to the fulcrum.
So you see, the shank and purchase of a bit gives the rider a significant mechanical advantage. There are several other bit features that add to severity. But always remember the force you put on the reins is not the force the horse feels unless you are riding in a snaffle (no shank, no
leverage) bit.
I left the tack store without any new toys, but I did feel confident that the young equestrian would be getting a 1:5 advantage over her horse. I wonder. . . . what will her horse do about it, stop five times easier, or fight back five times harder?

Those horses get just like the people what owns ‘em

By Terri Jo Bek, Professor, Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture

In many areas of the country, just because it is winter and the snow flies doesn’t mean that people stop riding their horses and doing their jobs. At home my dad would buy southern yearlings through the fall into January and we would doctor those cattle out on brome that ran along a creek south of the house. When I was about seven or eight years old, my job was to ride behind my dad holding onto a bottle of Terramycin and a 50 cc metal syringe, one in each hand. I held onto the tie strings on the back of the saddle for dear life while my dad roped the sick yearlings. He would then take the medicine and syringe and go down the rope and doctor the sick steer. I never mentioned that racing along at full speed with him swinging a rope over my head scared me to death. At such a young age, I felt certain that if I just closed my eyes it wouldn’t be nearly as scary as keeping them open. Of course, I now realize that instead of feeling like we were cruising along at 70 mph it felt like we were flying along about 90 mph.
One cold morning we were west of our place in a group of cattle that Dad looked after for a neighbor. It was icy in places, had thawed somewhat where the sun hit the ground and then turned slick again in the shade. I guess Dad thought the ground situation was a little dicey, so he set me down on the ground with my syringe and medicine. He was riding my kid horse, Beaver. He roped the steer in open ground where the sun had been shining; however, before things came to a stop the steer headed for the brush along the creek and Beaver and Dad found themselves sledding along behind the steer toward the creek. If a horse could have a shocked look on his face, that horse did.
Although he had cowboy caulks and cleats on his shoes, Beaver was laying down a set of tracks that would have made a reiner with sliders on his horse proud. Thankfully, God felt sorry for us all and the steer wound himself up in some of the brush. Beaver got his feet under him and with the aid of a bush everything came to a screeching halt. Dad stepped off the horse and that was my clue to run with the supplies so he could doctor the steer. I know that several mothers are gasping in horror to think that Dad would allow me to run with a large needle pointed at some part of my anatomy. I have since learned, after having a child, that apparently we have fathers to teach us to be independent and not be afraid. However, I have also learned that there are many things that children do with fathers that are best not told to mothers. In most cases “ignorance is bliss.” As my dad positioned himself to administer the medicine, the needle broke on the syringe. I can’t really remember exactly what happened. It may have been when the steer tried his best to knock my dad from one side of the bush through to the other side. Beaver held his ground as best he could and Dad and the steer were able to come to an understanding that the steer had to stand very still in order to maintain the ability to breathe adequately. Dad was less than ecstatic about his situation until he remembered that he had stuck a couple of extra needles into the hatband on his cowboy hat. He doctored the steer, gathered up his horse and rode back to where I stood; and he reached down, hauled me up behind him, gave me the supplies and we headed for the house. From then on he always had a couple of stainless steel needles stuck into his hatband.
Although Beaver was fairly reliable, he had his moments when I was sure my dad felt like shooting him between the eyes. He was always getting into things and wrecking havoc on a fairly regular basis. Dad had brought home about a ton of ground milo for some calves he was feeding in the corral. It was in burlap sacks and he had stacked it neatly in our granary. Somehow during the night, Beaver managed to get the granary door open and drag most of it out into the corral. He managed to drag it around and around in the dirt, stomping on the sacks and destroying not only the sack, but all of the contents. The next morning Dad found him standing among the sacks with white powder on the end of his muzzle. He admitted to me later that he was in hopes that the horse would at least get a belly ache, but since he didn’t like milo, he didn’t eat any of it. To add insult to injury, later in the week he managed to get himself lodged in the water tank, and since he couldn’t get out, the water froze around his legs. I can remember standing and crying as dad chopped him out of the ice. I asked dad, “Is he going to die?” to which my dad replied, “I certainly hope so!”