<TITLE>06. Par -</TITLE>E-1n      So that--our old watering trough, down where they have to pump the water. You know? One of the kids would have to go to pumping a half hour almost before the time was up to get enough water to water the horse.
So we'd get behind the barn, so dad couldn't see us. And I'd slip in and get his saddle (You know?) and throw it across the old horse after we watered it, pull the harness off, the gear. And then I'd reach, get me a handful of cockleburs, and stick them under the saddle (You know?), and pull down the girth. Climb up in the middle of this old horse with this straw hat. You know? And the poor old horse, so old and stiff and tired, he couldn't get his feet of the ground. He'd just bawl. And when he'd stand there and bawl. And I'd take my hat in my hand, and I'd holler and scream, and my brothers all setting around on fence posts, all of them setting there. I was a cowboy. My, I really could ride. That poor old horse, why, he was like riding a rocking horse out here, wouldn't be as bad.

E-1p      So when I got to be about eighteen, I thought, "Well, I'm old enough now. I'm going out west to be a cowboy." Probably seen too many movies. And so I'd went out west. And I landed in Arizona just at the time of a rodeo. Well, I went down; I had a little money, and I'd go buy a pair of chaps. So they had to find a nice big pair. You know? And I put it on me like that. Just a lad anyhow (You know?), there was about eighteen inches of leather hanging out on the ground, when I got. Looked like one of these little bantam chickens (You know?) with them feathers down behind me, like that. I thought, "Well, they're too big here in Arizona for us Kentuckians."
So I--I got me a pair of Levis and went out, climbed up around the corral fence, where they was riding the horses at the rodeo. And I heard them say, "Now, the next is going to be the Kansas Outlaw. He's going be rode by So-and-so, and carry on like that, the caller went by. I looked along side of that fence there at all of these disfigured cowboys (You know?), that setting up there, weather beaten. You know? Looked all along them, I thought, "That's where I belong up there with them guys." So I climbs down and gets up there and sets on this corral fence (You know?) with just Levis on, a hat, both ears hanging down, too big for me. So only cost about a dollar ninety-five cents, so it wasn't very much. You know? Well, I thought I was a real cowman, 'cause I'd rode that old plow horse (You know?), and I thought, "I can do that too." I'd never seen a real outlaw rode. You know?

E-1q      So after a while they was running this horse right into the chute, like that, the bullpen. And when it come out, this fellow was standing there, catch-as-can as he dropped down in the saddle there, as they girded the saddle on. And I heard that horse screaming and bawling and spitting, I thought, "Oh, oh. That ain't that old plow horse that I had at home."
When he jumped out of there, this fellow jumped right in the saddle; he made about two side wheels, like that and done a sunfish; and saddle, man, and all went out. When he hit the ground the pick-ups got the horse and the ambulance got the man. The blood was running out of his nose and ears and everything. Here come the caller by, said, "I will give any man fifty dollars who will ride him thirty seconds."
Well, I... Come riding down through there, said, "All right." All them cowboys setting on the fence... Said, "I will give any man fifty dollars who will ride him thirty seconds." That would be like offering two thousand today nearly. Boy, that fifty dollars sounded awful good. He looked right at me and said, "Are you a rider?"
I said, "No, sir." That wasn't no plow horse.


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