03/16/07 Stubblefield Point

Stubblefield Point Just how special are bucking horses? I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back to tell you. Bucking horses are special to the people who own them and this true story given to me by my friend and rodeo announcer Paul Steuermann proves it. You'll find it on the south half of the Colville Indian Reservation. A stark rangeland of haystack basalt rocks and bunch grass called Stubblefield Point. It was a bright fall morning in 1975 and we were riding that pasture in search of strays. Having to split up to cover more country, I found myself at the foot of a big rock. For some reason I looked up and there on the top of that rock was a cross, made of hand split cedar fence posts and held together with rusty barbwire. When I caught up to my partner, I told him what I had found. He was amazed it was still standing and then he told me this story. Leo Moomaw was an old time rodeo producer. He supplied bucking horses to the Pendleton Roundup many years ago. Leo had many great bucking horses, but his favorite was Dynamite. He wintered his horses on the rich grass of Stubblefield Point. One spring he rode out to gather them and he found Dynamite lying dead at the foot of that rock. He rode all the way to the Columbia River and with his lariat rope he dragged those posts back to the spot where his favorite horse had died. Leo and Dynamite are both long gone now, but that cross still stands today on a rock on Stubblefield Point. A fitting tribute to a great bucking horse and the man who loved him. Thanks, Paul, I always loved that story and it's an honor to tell everyone about Leo and Dynamite. I'm Jeff Keane.