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 “This is ‘bout the best time of year,” said Steve,
“to get out and do something fun, like go to a rodeo.”
“Awful cold out there right now, Steve,” said Doc, who has more
degrees than a thermometer. “I guess it’s a good thing they have all
those building rodeos these days.”
“Well, that would take all the sport out of it, wouldn’t it?” Steve
said. “Dud, pass the sugar please.”
Dud passed the sugar. “Don’t know what you mean, Steve. Why would it
take all the sport out of rodeo if the folks in the stands were
comfortable?”
“Cold factor,” he said.
“What?”
Now Steve was our resident cowboy here at the Mule Barn truck stop’s
philosophy counter. He still worked on ranches and lived in
bunkhouses and saddled his horses one at a time, but his rodeo days
were far behind him. It’s a sport with a very short career … one way
or another.
“You see,” Steve said, “when it’s cold, the rough stock bucks harder
… ‘specially the broncs. Not sure why, but you can see it even with
broke horses. On a cold morning, they’re liable to hump their backs
and hop a few times just for fun, or to shake out the kinks. Same
with rodeo broncs. With them, I think it’s just more fun, though.” [to top of second
column] |
“Well, I can see where watching
broncs in cold weather would make it more fun to watch,” Doc said.
“That’s only half of it,” Steve said, grinning. “Those poor cowboys
who ride them are cold and stiff, too. Doesn’t help much with riding
rank stock. And that’s the reason it’s more fun to watch a rodeo in
cold weather. It tends to rain frozen cowboys.”
[Text from file received from
Slim Randles]
Brought to you by Ol’ Jimmy Dollar, Slim’s children’s book about a
happy hounddog man and his “kids.” See it at riograndebooks.com.
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