The Old Brahma Cross

I had a cowboy job one summer when I was 20. I'd spent my day off grooming horses and cleaning tack. I got a call from Jim asking me to leave as soon as possible and meet him at his house. I loaded up my grulla pony and headed his way. He said we had cows out up on the Crane Place.

We headed up the mountain..it was the end of June and we'd had the driest, hottest spring in years. It was 95 degrees and about 3pm when we jumped our horses out of the trailer. Jim told me it would be a fast trip so we didn't bother taking water with us.

We started up the road near the old homestead, where a rock foundation still stands. My horse jumped about a mile and there was a rattler curled under some sagebrush alongside the road. Jim shot it, only to find two more by the foundation. Underneath the old house was a huge nest of rattlers, the biggest ones I'd seen. My little horse got nervous every time we went up there after that.

We continued up the road to gather up the few pair of mother cows and calves we could find. They'd gotten into the hayfield. Since it was time to move all the cows off the Crane Place, we decided to push them into the corral and load them in the trailer. The trouble was, one of the cows was a big, old, mean brahma cross. Huge, brindle, horned and cranky, the old gal was a sight to behold. She wasn't too fond of us trying to push her in the trailer. We got her calf in, but she'd come from clear across the corral and ram my little horse. She went for Jim and I thought for sure she'd hook his old mare. But she made straight for the fence, cleared it, and away she went. We gave up on her that day.

After our trek back to the trailer, our quick little jaunt had turned into about 4 hours. I was dusty, hot, and thirsty. And my poor little horse shook every time he saw that cow thereafter.