grease bugs

when i worked at the forpaugh ranch in aguila arizona there was a couple of cowboys there who were funny. the older one everyone called pa. he was from texas and was in his  seventies.  for a young man my age he made me mad a lot as all i heard out of was texas this and texas that. i figgured if texas was so great my great grand parents wouldnt have loaded their wagons and come to arizona.
     the other cowboy was a little older than me , was a prca bulldogger who had been to the nfr a couple times. we rode together to work and got along well. he got along with pa better than me so he rode with him more than i did.
   it had been a good spring and the calves were real big at branding time.  with 400 head to rope and drag we couldnt fool around. pa , being the oldest started draggin calves first. after about a hour of draggin those big ole calves with a tied rope his horses was about done. my friend russ the bull dogger got his horse and started ropin calves, things speeded up and we were making time. there in the back of the pen was a big ole bull calf that had to weigh 500 pounds.  russ heeled that bull and started to the fire at a trot. all of a sudden we heard a rippin sound , russes horse came on to the fire, but russ and his saddle lay on the ground  in the middle of the corral. the latigo on the off side had ripped loose at the d ring.  pa walked over to a dazed russ and leaned down and looked at the latigo."damn russ , looks like the grease bugs ate up your latigo!" which meant that russ hadnt oiled his saddle in a month of sundays.
    no one was hurt , and i got to rope the rest of the calves!!