Really, Honestly...She Never Bucks With Me

I am working a youg horse right now and I think back to how I used to do it before age and brains came together.  I don't think much of the way I used to start colts, but at the time it was fun!

When I was in college, a buddy (we'll call him Dennis) and I were hired to put a few rides on some long yearlings and ride a couple of older horses to leg them up.  The owner of the ranch wanted to use the older horses for a stagecoach team.  So we started with the long yearlings.  We did it the old fashioned way, tied them to a snubbing post, blindfolded them, and crawled in the middle.  It was a lot of fun, we were young and made of rubber.  To get bucked off of long yearlings wasn't a big deal.

Now the older horses, that was another story!  They were both started under saddle and the owner told us only one had bucked.  Dennis and I drew straws as to which one we would get to ride.  I got a 4 year old Miller San filly, smart easy mover and I never had a lick of trouble.  Dennis got the 7 year old mare of questionable descent (at least that is what he talked about as she was bucking).  She would buck for long periods of time, or so Dennis said it seemed.  But we were young and made of rubber...heck we were getting cash money to have this much fun!  After a week or two riding the boss wanted us to help gather cattle on these two horses.  Lo and behold, Dennis was going to be out of town.  Funny how that worked out. 

I was charged with finding someone to help out.  I asked another buddy (we'll call him Guy).  He asked if it paid, of course.  Broke and in college, that's always the first question!  When we got there that morning, I started to feel sorry for him and said I would ride the one that bucked.  It was crisp and cool when we started out at a long trot, all the horses were blowing their rollers. The 7YRO never raised a bauble, steady eddy the whole day.  I started thinking maybe Dennis was the problem.  The 4YRO, now that was a different story.  She started bucking during the trot to the pasture, I told him no big deal...she's just feeling good.  When we started to gather the cattle, she started bucking again....what are you doing to her, she never bucks!  Seems like everytime I saw him after that, she was bucking.  She bucked on and off the whole day!   She never bucked him off, but he spoke of my heritage all the way back to the pens... accusing me of playing a dirty trick.  Honestly, she never bucked with me at all!  To this day, I think he believes I played a dirty trick on him.  Really, honestly....she never bucked with me once!