over the years it has been my experiance that some times the best horses come from the strangest places. ive bought horses out of back yards that made top mounts. horses raised in some of the worst conditions with possibly no breeding or back ground have made really good using horses, rope horses and trail horses.
when i went to work at a certain feedyard for a short time they had a nonscript bay horse with a platter foot, a thick , cresty neck, and absolutly no conformation for a stock horse. BUT, sacaton, was one of the best the cuttin horses i ever rode. he was rough, jarring and couldnt out run a cold, but that ole pony could cut cattle all day long and never draw a hard breath.
another was a brown 3 yearold that my son bought out of a south pheonix back yard. BOSCO could run, was stout enough to pull start a pickup with a dead battery , and as gentle as they come. he was used in college as a team roping horse, a bull dogging horses and a pick up horse for bronc riders. but his crowning glory was in the bull riding. at a law enforcement rodeo my son was picking up and runnin bulls out of the arena. generaly that was easy. the bulls knew where the out gate is and are looking for it the minute the whistle is blown. but one bull played hard to get. he was a 2200 pound bull as big as bosco. bosco weighed in at a cool 1175. when the bull missed the gate the 3 rd time carter raised up and roped mr. bull around the neck. the smart alec cop announcers says what you gonna do now carter? he turned toward the gate, smooched to that brown horse and that bull went to the catch pen, his tail poppin like a buggy whip!!
then once when i was just out of high school i was at a livestock sale in pheonix when a fellow came in and announced he had missed the horses sale, needed to sell something for gas money to get out of town. i along with a couple other fools wandered out to the parking lot, climbed up on his single deck semi trailer to look. the only thing there that intrested me ws a bull dog appaloosa gelding, covered in mud and manuare. he was half starved and hadnt been on the ground in 48 hours. the owner told me he had registration papers and would unload him for 300 dollers. we made the deal and i took buddy home. he was a 3 year old. everyone in the family used him over the years. he was one of the most versatile rope horses i ever rode. not a speed merchant by any means he had a way of getting to a steer that always amazed me. i have been 5 seconds on him as a head horses and a heel horse. i roped calves on him when nobody believed he was a calf horse. when the actor ben johnson was getting ready for his roll in bite the bullet he considered buddy, but chose a white horse instead as buddy was injured at the time. when buddy reached 18 he was starting to show sighns of road founder from feedlot work, rodeos and ropings. my dad needed a good solid cutting horse to work his bunch of cows. buddy went home to dad and was there when dad passed away. buddy was at that point 30 years old. he had a uncurable cancer, could no longer regain his feet if he laid down , but was still in good flesh. with no one to care for him mom and i decided to put him down. that 300 dollar horse returned that a thousand times over.
r.i.p. my friends
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