04/08/05 Howard`s colts

Howard's Colts At one of the large horse round ups in earlier times in our area a special mare was in the herd. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll tell you about her in one minute. In about 1926 approximately 700 head of range and work horses were rounded up in a neighborhood gather so the horses could be sorted for selling certain ones and the branding of the younger horses that had been missed over the years or the new colts. The one mare in the bunch was special because she ended up having nine colts when the sorting was all done. The round up went for six days with about 200 head sorted for selling. There were around 24 riders that helped make the gather and a bunch of spectators. One of the riders was a nine-year-old that got to go with his dad. Howard, the young kid, was looking for one of his dad's work mares that had not been rounded up yet that spring. The mare, named Bess, had been seen with a blue roan colt, so the first blue colt that came through the branding corral; Howard yelled that it sure looked like Bess' colt. The older riders all thought that sounded about right and branded the colt for Howard. The looks of the next colt made Howard think he made a mistake about the first one and he said so to all the riders. Well, horses weren't worth much then and the older guys thought it was kind of funny and liked the kid so Howard got another colt. Howard was a fast learner and before the day was over Bess had nine colts that were all branded for Howard and that's how one mare had a litter and Howard started his horse herd. I'm Jeff Keane.