<TITLE>06. Par 17-19</TITLE>L-17 And then, I... When I'd get in, I'd come in a little early and water my horse first. Poor daddy, he'd go plumb till dark, and had to milk the old cow. And my brother did, I couldn't milk, never could.
So then, I'd come around there, and I'd water the horse, and I had to do some more chores around the house. And I'd get out there, and my brothers would all climb up along on this side of the fence, and pop would be back at the back of the place still working. I'd get the old horse, and look around, and see that mama or none of them was watching, you know. I'd get dad's saddle, and throw it over, and get me a handful of cockleburs, and pitch them up under the saddle like that, and then pull the gird up real tight, and climb up on him. Anybody here that ever rode with a cocklebur under the saddle, you know what... Poor old horse... Oh, I'm ashamed of myself yet of that.
The poor old fellow so tired and old, too sick to get his feet off the ground, and them cockleburs a pinching him, you know. He'd just stand there and bawl, you know, like that, jerk his feet up and down like that. He couldn't buck. He was too old, stiff. He'd just bawled and go on like that. And I'd jerk off this hat and sway from one side to the other. And I was a real cowboy. I'm telling you. Yes, sir. My brothers all sitting there, just clap their hands you know. Oh, we... I was a real rider. Well, it's no more than sitting on a chair there and somebody rocking you. You see?

L-18 So, when I got to be about eighteen years old, I--I was sure they needed me awful bad out west to break their horses. I knew they just couldn't hardly get along without me, so I slipped off from home and went out west. I landed in Arizona just about the time of was rodeo time, got me a pair of Levis, and went out there, and I thought, "Now I'm going to go home in the silver saddle, and I'm sure going to make a lot of money."
So I climbed up on the side of the corral, you know, and they went forth, and they turned the horse loose there. They was going to have a rider to ride this horse. And brother, they had his... When he come out of the chute, put him in the bulls pen when he come out. I... That horse made about two bucks and a sunfish, and the saddle went one way, a rider went the other. The pickups got the horse, and the ambulance got the rider, blood pouring out of his ears and nose, laying out there all crumbled up on the--the ground.
I thought, "Oh, oh. That don't look like that old plow horse I rode. I don't know whether I'm going to have a silver saddle or not."

L-19 So then, caller went by, and he said, "I'll give any man here a hundred dollars that'll ride this horse two minutes." And he went right down along all them bunch of cowboys lined up along the corral fence, all disfigured, you know, real cattlemen. Here I was sitting there and my feet spread out trying to look like a cowboy, with that hat on and my ears pulled down. And that fellow walked right straight up to me, and looked in my face, and said, "Are you a rider?"
Ha, I said, "No, sir." I done changed my mind right quick, that I wasn't a rider. That wasn't my old plow horse, and I knowed I couldn't stay on that thing. That's the reason I say today I'm not a preacher. See?


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