I’m a beef producer...

Several years ago a friend of mine wanted to fill his PRCA permit. He also wanted to ride my roping horse to do it. So, we decided we would enter a bunch of rodeos up in Kansas over about a two week period.

We went to both amateur rodeos and PRCA rodeos those two weeks. I won the first rodeo we went to and placed at the next two. I made so much money I bought a nice roping saddle at one of the rodeos in Kansas. I remember the guy I bought the saddle from was shoeing horses at the rodeo. I think he sold me that saddle so he could make it home, he hadn’t won much.

That was a fun couple of weeks. One of the rodeos was Dodge City, Kansas. It was the only rodeo I did not enter. My friend did. I told him they bring the smaller calves from the big rodeo at Cheyenne, Wyoming. I told him you will probably draw one that will eat your lunch. Sure enough, he roped a calf that weighed about three hundred and it kicked until they blew the whistle. The little end of the calves from Cheyenne still ain’t what I’d call user friendly, I saved a three hundred entry fee by not entering Dodge City.

When I was warming up my horse before the slack that morning I spotted a jack rabbit sitting in the grass. We don’t have jack rabbits in southeastern Oklahoma. As I was loping my roping horse around I got to thinking about Gus in the Lonesome Dove movie, so like Gus I decided to chase that Jack rabbit like Gus chased those buffaloes in the movie.

At first the horse wasn’t sure we were supposed to chase a rabbit, and the rabbit wasn’t sure we were actually chasing it. It took a few try’s, but when that jack rabbit decided to run he flat outran my horse, leaving a small trail of dust behind him. I couldn’t help but giggle as I rode my horse up to the arena. I didn’t tell anyone I’d been chasing rabbits on my roping horse.

Somewhere in Kansas we stopped at a restaurant to eat. My friend ordered steak, I ordered fried chicken because it was Sunday and my mom or my grandma always had fried chicken after church on Sundays. After the waitress came and took our orders my friend gave me a hard time for ordering chicken. He told me James I’m a beef producer and I always eat what I produce. Those chicken farmers are my competitors and I ain’t helping them out by eating their chickens. So, the rest of the trip I ate steak or hamburgers. No chicken of any kind.

Our last rodeo that week was at Burlington, Colo. All the way home I giggled about that jack rabbit and the no chicken diet. I won enough to pay for my trip and even came home with a nice saddle. It was a fun two weeks. I’m a beef producer, and I ain’t eatin’ no chicken. I’ll remember that as long as I live.

James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.