10/21/05 Respect

Respect Even though it comes about one hundred and fifty years too late, I have a new respect for some brave riders. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back in one minute to explain. Anyone who has studied the history of the cattle industry has surely read about the great cattle trail drives of the late 1860's. Unless you get to read some of the factual accounts of these drives, a lot of the details can be pretty romanticized. There have been movies and television shows that use cattle drives as a central theme and they are usually entertaining especially for ranchers or anyone interested in cowboy life. But anyone who has moved cattle very far or for very many days knows just how unromantic that job can be at certain times. Times like hot weather and no breeze or cold weather and plenty of breeze make you understand that to those trail drivers moving cattle had to become just another job. Now, the other night I ran some horses home in the dark and that's when I realized there's a big difference between reading about turning a stampede in the middle of the night and actually riding a horse running full-out over unknown ground along-side a run-away herd of longhorn cattle. I was just loping along a trail I know hoping my horse kept his feet or some wondering badger hadn't dug a new hole in the trail since I was there last. I understand now why you always read about those trial drivers having a good sure-footed night horse. I think I'll try to stay dry and only imagine all the river crossings they had to make. I'm Jeff Keane.