Kelley (Texas)
New member
In 1968, after I was discharged from the Marines and had attended college for a period of time, I was sorta wild and reckless...unsettled in my life. All I cared about was horses, cows and hunting for arrowheads.
I had heard about a ranch down near Cotulla, Texas that was looking for some folks to work fence and round up cows in the brush, and doing other miscellaneous chores around the ranch. This was a large ranch, almost 12,000 acres of brush land. The pay was not the best, but they furnished room and board and a horse. I called down there, but was disappointed when told that they were no longer hiring. Not accepting "no," I loaded my saddle and gear in my pickup truck and headed for Cotulla...I wanted them to tell me in person that they were not hiring anyone.
I arrived in Cotulla that afternoon, got directions to the ranch. When I pulled up to the ranch house, an old man met me at the front porch and wanted to know what I wanted. As he spit some tobacco juice off the porch, I told him that I had called that morning about a job. He said he remembered the call and said that I must have not understood him when he said that they were not hiring anymore cowboys. I said that I had understood him, but I wanted to work and wanted to hear it in person that they were not hiring. He looked me in the eye and said OK, I will hire you, but you better be good or I will fire you so fast that you will regret ever coming to Cotulla.
They gave me a horse named BB. It did not take me long to learn that BB was short for Bad Ben. The first time I approached that horse, he let out a snort and turned his butt towards me. I noticed that his ears were pinned back and knew it was not a bluff. He was one mean, nasty tempered horse. It did not help when I noticed everyone was watching me! It took some time, but I finally saddled that rank horse. When I put my foot in the stirrup, he moved away from me and did a small cow hop type buck. Well, by this time, I had just about had enough of the nonsense. I reached up and grabbed the bridle and pulled his head towards me as I swung up into the saddle. This caught him by surprise, but I guess it made him mad that I had out smarted him because away he went across the pasture as fast as he could go, throwing in a few bucks along the way. I looked back and saw everyone laughing, which just added fuel to the fire. Well, this was one battle with a horse that I was going to win, then we will see if they still wanted to laugh. It was obvious to me that everyone knew that this horse was bad news. I just gave old Bad Ben a free rein and let him do his thing. After a while, he quit bucking and started to slow down...but I kicked him forward, he wanted to run and buck, so lets keep running. Bad Ben now realized that this was not fun anymore...he had screwed himself and misjudged the cowboy on his back. I ran that horse until his tongue was just about dragging in the dust. He was now a changed horse, he never again pulled this trick on me. He tried a few other little tricks over the next few weeks, but he lost the battle each time.
One day while looking for stray calves, I came across a dry creek bed and spotted an arrowhead. I dismounted and spent an hour or so and found two other arrowheads. I am posting a picture of the three arrowheads at the bottom of this story. Earlier today, while going through some boxes, I came across the three arrowheads, thus figured that while I was in the mood that I would write the story about them.
Some of the cows and calves down in that brush country were wild and could be dangerous when messed with. Once is a while, some cowboy would get hurt by a mean tempered mama cow with big horns. You did not dare rope a calf because the mama cow would sometimes come after you. You had to flush and herd them out of the brush...hard work and sometimes frustrating because the cows did not want to be flushed and herded out of there...you had to wear chaps because of the thorns, and you were always at risk from the rattlesnakes that also liked to live in the thick brush.
I worked down on that old ranch for almost five months until we had the calves all penned for shipping to auction. During this time, Bad Ben and I became good friends...we learned to trust each other. It was kinda funny but the day that I left, I watched one of the other cowboys approach Bad Ben with his saddle. I wanted to roll on the ground from laughing as Bad Ben let out a snort, turned his butt towards the cowboy. I also noticed that the ears were pinned back. There are a few other good adventures from those months spent on that ranch...the day that Bad Ben and I took a bad fall, the day that another cowboy and I went to fist city because he slapped Bad Ben with a rope, or the time that Bad Ben saved my hide from a mad mama cow with the biggest horns that I have ever seen. Maybe one of these days I will share these adventures. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)
[attachment 34434 SouthTexasArrowheads.jpg]
I had heard about a ranch down near Cotulla, Texas that was looking for some folks to work fence and round up cows in the brush, and doing other miscellaneous chores around the ranch. This was a large ranch, almost 12,000 acres of brush land. The pay was not the best, but they furnished room and board and a horse. I called down there, but was disappointed when told that they were no longer hiring. Not accepting "no," I loaded my saddle and gear in my pickup truck and headed for Cotulla...I wanted them to tell me in person that they were not hiring anyone.
I arrived in Cotulla that afternoon, got directions to the ranch. When I pulled up to the ranch house, an old man met me at the front porch and wanted to know what I wanted. As he spit some tobacco juice off the porch, I told him that I had called that morning about a job. He said he remembered the call and said that I must have not understood him when he said that they were not hiring anymore cowboys. I said that I had understood him, but I wanted to work and wanted to hear it in person that they were not hiring. He looked me in the eye and said OK, I will hire you, but you better be good or I will fire you so fast that you will regret ever coming to Cotulla.
They gave me a horse named BB. It did not take me long to learn that BB was short for Bad Ben. The first time I approached that horse, he let out a snort and turned his butt towards me. I noticed that his ears were pinned back and knew it was not a bluff. He was one mean, nasty tempered horse. It did not help when I noticed everyone was watching me! It took some time, but I finally saddled that rank horse. When I put my foot in the stirrup, he moved away from me and did a small cow hop type buck. Well, by this time, I had just about had enough of the nonsense. I reached up and grabbed the bridle and pulled his head towards me as I swung up into the saddle. This caught him by surprise, but I guess it made him mad that I had out smarted him because away he went across the pasture as fast as he could go, throwing in a few bucks along the way. I looked back and saw everyone laughing, which just added fuel to the fire. Well, this was one battle with a horse that I was going to win, then we will see if they still wanted to laugh. It was obvious to me that everyone knew that this horse was bad news. I just gave old Bad Ben a free rein and let him do his thing. After a while, he quit bucking and started to slow down...but I kicked him forward, he wanted to run and buck, so lets keep running. Bad Ben now realized that this was not fun anymore...he had screwed himself and misjudged the cowboy on his back. I ran that horse until his tongue was just about dragging in the dust. He was now a changed horse, he never again pulled this trick on me. He tried a few other little tricks over the next few weeks, but he lost the battle each time.
One day while looking for stray calves, I came across a dry creek bed and spotted an arrowhead. I dismounted and spent an hour or so and found two other arrowheads. I am posting a picture of the three arrowheads at the bottom of this story. Earlier today, while going through some boxes, I came across the three arrowheads, thus figured that while I was in the mood that I would write the story about them.
Some of the cows and calves down in that brush country were wild and could be dangerous when messed with. Once is a while, some cowboy would get hurt by a mean tempered mama cow with big horns. You did not dare rope a calf because the mama cow would sometimes come after you. You had to flush and herd them out of the brush...hard work and sometimes frustrating because the cows did not want to be flushed and herded out of there...you had to wear chaps because of the thorns, and you were always at risk from the rattlesnakes that also liked to live in the thick brush.
I worked down on that old ranch for almost five months until we had the calves all penned for shipping to auction. During this time, Bad Ben and I became good friends...we learned to trust each other. It was kinda funny but the day that I left, I watched one of the other cowboys approach Bad Ben with his saddle. I wanted to roll on the ground from laughing as Bad Ben let out a snort, turned his butt towards the cowboy. I also noticed that the ears were pinned back. There are a few other good adventures from those months spent on that ranch...the day that Bad Ben and I took a bad fall, the day that another cowboy and I went to fist city because he slapped Bad Ben with a rope, or the time that Bad Ben saved my hide from a mad mama cow with the biggest horns that I have ever seen. Maybe one of these days I will share these adventures. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)
[attachment 34434 SouthTexasArrowheads.jpg]
Good to hear from you again you ole' potlicker ! Another story would be nice when you get a few minutes. All the best.
