ole rebel

when i worked for t and c cattle in the late 60 s and early 70 s i was privledged to be the feller who started the colts the company raised.  their brood mares were bred with the best studs available  at the time. little request, vangaurd, a little leo bred stud, and the great rebel cause.  two of the colts a year, after i gentled them to the saddle, were sent to the track.  the first and best was cowtown rebel. a big brown giraff looking horse that didnt know how fast he could run. his mamma was a own daughter of tonto bar gill, another speed demon. i dont know the reason but for some reason they discontinued the race horse program. the horses were brought to the feed lot and went to work as  saddle horses. the boss told me that he would 'PARTNER"  with me on rebel.  i had other plans. every time sam went to catch rebel i had my saddle on him. after 2 weeks sam called off the partnership, a little disgruntled. as time went on i started roping on him and my god what a head horse.  it took some time to get used to his break, for a while i broke every barrier because i had never ridden that much speed. my personal horses i had to cheat every start to get a good throw.  not on rebel. at the fairgrounds ropin one year with pablo osuna as my partner just as i called for the steer rebel spun in the box. we were looking out the back of the box when the steer left. he finished the spin and i turned the steer half way down the pen to be 8. not bad since we had such a bad start. new years ropin in chandler was a 5 header. all the wolves were there. jack rasco, leo and gearld camarillo, and a bunch more old time wolves, dale smith, john clem , and more i cant remember. i entered once with pablo. we bought our selves in the calcutta and waitted for our names to be called. that big brown horse rolled to 5 big 700 pound steers and pablo  roped 4 by two feet and two looped one for a second place win. if not for the speed of that brown horse we wouldnt have been in the money. every where we went people wanted to buy him. but the company took pride in that bunch of good horses and their cowboys. when i quit there i hated to leave that brown horse but the company didnt sell horses. when the company sold out a little later one of the owners sons took ole rebel and roped on him until he was well into his 20 s. he had a good life. never before or since have i rode so much raw speed.