The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1932-07-21
aNS6zSaSANH
WILL, -
ROGERS
AV#


just what read in the papers. And
what 1 run into here and there. I
made a little Race" around
among some old friends down in
Texas along after the Democrats
had done their "Durndest" at Chi
cago. First down into Oklahoma
and then Texas, Fourth of July
sneaked up on me before I had
even a firecracker or knew the day
was anywhere near me.
I was down around the old
home place at Claremore and they
said the next day was big "Rod-
co" up at Nowata. Well that's right
near. I knew they would be hav-
ing a lot of Calf Musings" at var
ious towns on the Fourth, so I was
glad to get to go to this one, for
there I met a lot of old boys that
I had been raised with. Some of
EN- still roping. You know Okla
homa. and Texas is the home of the
Contest Roper. The North is the
place for the bucking horse riders,
but go south if you want to see EN-
was just thinking when I was
looking at that show the Fourth, it
was at little Fourth of July cele-
bration at Claremore just 35 miles
from this one, on July Fourth,
1899 (Boy that's 80 years ago. they
had a steer roping and went into
it.
Well as I look back on it now I
know that that had quite an inf1u-
ence on my little career, for I
kinder got to running around to
EN-, and the first thing knew I
was just plum 'Hoery" and fit for
nothing but show business. Once
ysu are a Snowman you are plum
ruined for manual labor again.
I had an awful good little horse
that really put me in the business.
A little Dun, (yellow) poney, call
ed "Comanche." All the old timers
will remember him. He put you
up so close to steer that you did
not rope him, you just reached over
and put "Hackimore" on him.
Some of the old timers brought him
up there the other day. Jimmie
Kane" rider, who could throw
loop out, turn it over and make the
catch we called the Johnny Block
er" right on his head.
This calf roping has all come in
the last few years after they had
stopped steer roping. A man might
be good at one and not necessarily
good at the other. And here is
something you might not know, or
have noticed. A steer roping horse,
and a calf roping horse is not the
same animal. You see when you
rope steers you catch EN-, throw
your slack rope over his rear axle
and then hun your horse on by him,
having him roped by the head, but
the rope going over behind him,
therefore perking his all four feet
from under him. Then the horse is
supposed to keep pulling and drag
ding him as he Attempts to get up,
that is pulling away from him, with
his tail to the steer. Now in calf
roping the minute you catch your
calf, the horses stopped. You
jump off and go throw the calf
yourself, and the horse is to keep
the rope tight, but his head is
towards the calf, and he does it by
backing up, instead of pulling away
like with a steer. Course you can
in rare instances have horse that
you can work both ways, but most
of EN- have two different horses,
and say they mean about so or 20
percent of the game, the horses do.
Some of these old real ranch
hands that never miss a calf on
the prairie get the old buck fever
when the crowd is there, and nat
urally they all go home telling bad
about it and get a good joshing
about it till the next time. The
contests where everybody knows
everybody is always interesting.
That is the smaller ones where
there is not much what you might
call professional talent THAT is
boys who make it a business, and
just follow that game exclusively
Still they are mighty fine, nice
bunch of boys.
In years gone by no one ever
thought splendid livings would be
made by exhibition of things that
was a part of ones every day work,
but the folks got to have amuse-
ment. And the old calf, the steer,
and bucking horse, they don't care
much, they go back to the range
and tell their stay at home cronies
what they did at the 'Big Fair"
Think of the hero calf is when
he goes home and says, Bob Cros-
by missed me-" Well I am going to
practice up, and from now on If you
see an old fellow with long beard
roping in the Centennial Contest"
that's old man Rogers coming to
life again.