STIRRUP READINESS I was drinking coffee at the Drover’s Café when Leo McKinny moseyed in and asked about how I’m getting along with my building project. You see, I’ve been busy building a false front western village in the lots next to my house. The place is called Broken Arrow Crossing.* Well, Leo took an […]
The No-See-Ums Plagues In most books about the Old West, you seldom read about the bugs. Oh, there are great stories about bears, snakes, and mountain lions. But what about when the cowboys, prospectors, mountain men, and pioneers had to face the dreaded enemies of mosquitos, fleas, lice, gnats, and no-see-ums? Each of these little […]
Disciples and Nooning It The old journal I was reading told tales along the Oregon Trail in 1852. It said, “About twelve miles past the lower cutoff on the south side of the Snake River, we found a little shade and nooned it a couple hours.” Nooned it? A noun into a verb? What did […]
The Lowly Nighthawk Security You know, some names just have a good ring to them. They sound impressive. Take the term nighthawk, for instance. Why, that sounds like a sleek, fast, ferocious sportscar or motorcycle or high tech surveillance equipment with infrared scope. But on the cattle drives in the Old West, the nighthawk security […]
Nesters All Over the Place When ‘nester’ farmers first came into the wide open western range land, they were pretty much disliked. For the old-time cattlemen, they were an intrusion, not only on their business, but on the grandeur of the scenery. Instead of gazing across a wide plain of grass and sage, instead of […]
DON’T TAKE MY NIGHT HORSE I suppose some good night horses remain around. But frankly, I don’t know of anyone who needs one. Few men in our country have to work horseback at night, in places with no artificial light. In the old days on the cattle drives, every man had a night horse. This […]
ON THE TRAIL NIGHT GUARD DUTY On old-time cattle drives, every cowhand except the horse wrangler and cook had to take turns riding night guard. Once the cattle settled in for the night and all sat down, it only took two men to watch over them. These two rode in opposite directions, circling the herd. […]
NECK REIN HORSE ADVANTAGE A neck rein horse acts like a car with automatic transmission. Lots of horses only respond to the rider when they feel a yank on the reins and a tug at the bit. Unless you jerk that hard metal against their mouth, they don’t respond. Well, that resembles a standard transmission. […]
A Nickel Plated Style My wife, Janet, enjoys wearing western-style clothing. Oh, not the common, ordinary jeans, boots, and blouse. Rather she prefers what I call nickel-plated, western chic. Her sterling silver, feather, and turquoise earrings, for instance, harmonize with the rings on her fingers and necklaces. And they have to blend with the sequined […]
THE WONDERS OF A NECK HORSE A friend of mine named Jim lived down on the grade a few miles from us. I drove by his place and noticed a three-year-old paint gelding necked up to his big old black mare. Jim recently bought that paint horse and had trouble with him. Seems like he […]
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