A Potential Still Life

Cles took a picture of this large can, although as I remember, it was a fifty gallon drum.

This type of spray was extremely expensive, so much so, that it made it impossible to use on range ground to eliminate sage brush. Fire was the best way to deal with it.

We had some neighbors on the other side of our ranch. Their farm was over 80 sections of land. At one time, wild horses ran wild there.

It was from that herd that my grandfather roped, caught and broke many wild horses to ride. One of the last ones he caught was buckskin mare. It had a US Government brand on the hip, which meant it was one of the ones that soldiers let join the wild herd, when they abandoned the practice of having horses.

We used her as a broodmare, and she provided our ranch with some of the finest horses. One buckskin colt was fast.

A cousin used it in chariot races in Southeastern Idaho and Northern Utah. He never found another animal, that could run with it, so he had many pictures of the buckskin pulling well ahead of the team.

That horse was one, who threw my cousin. That happened rarely, and when it did, my cousin was injured. It was a while before he could ride again. He never really rode that horse much after that. Chariot racing, however, was the colt's forte.

Dad rode a black horse colt from that mare, and "Old Black" became an animal that few, except my father, could ride. He was an excellent cutting horse, and he ran full gallop through rocky terrain and brush. The horse turned so quickly as it reacted to a cow being herded, that on occasion it "threw my father's back out." For me personally, I just would hang onto the saddle horn.

You didn't have to use reins. The horse knew what you wanted to do, and he did the thinking. "Old Black" knew what needed to be done.

Our neighbors with the large tract of land and wild horses also had "bad luck" with lightening fires, at least that's how they described it, but no one complained. It was a way to rid the range of brush. Ironically, most started on clear nights.

This picture would have been a great still life shot, because around this empty container was a thick stand of sage. Cles laughed about it. I found it funny too.

But it brought back memories of more than just a couple of stories on the ranch.