Rojo's lesson

Almost 30 years ago, my ex-husband took a job being the camp tender at Red Springs, a cow camp on the Arapaho Ranch in Thermopolis, Wyoming. The job was to look after 3200 head of yearling and 2 yr old cattle, turned out on 100 thousand acres on the rim of the Wind River Canyon. 

We moved up to the camp in May, and it soon became apparent, that he would need some help. The kids were  4 and 5, just old enough not to need the majority of my time any more, and I was hired to be part time help for him.

The ranch gave me two horses to ride, rather than the six provided for all other cowboys, seeins I was just part time help, and wouldn't need to be horseback all the time. One was Cowboy, who I'd helped Dick start a couple years earlier, a big tall thoroughbred type gelding, mostly all legs and roman nose. The other was Rojo, a blood bay of classic ranch quarter horse build, solid bone and good muscle.

My main job was to check fence in the areas inaccessible by pick up, which was the majority of the fence line. Red Springs cowcamp is divided into 3 main pastures, the heifers are in the north, the replacement heifers border the Wind River Canyon to the east, and the steers have the south and west. We had around 15 horses in 3 pastures up close to the camp, which we rotated as needed.

There was a ton of fence, miles and miles of it. It was my job to check the parts you had to ride to. That left me riding miles and miles, with very little to do, other than finding that hole in the fence before the cattle did.

I can't really remember when I noticed, but Rojo would actively position me in a way that was most comfortable for him. He was a big horse, right around 16h, stout and muscled up,  and … strong. Once I did notice though, it didn't take me long to go with it. We were soon trotting and loping across all kinds of terrain, and I would sit as loose in the saddle as I could, and listen to what that big stout gelding was trying to tell me. We loped up and down hills, alongside long slopes and crossed many a draw, sometimes jumping off low cliffs. I would either sit very loose in the saddle, and noticing how my legs, hips and back were positioned, or sit a certain way and note the effects on both Rojo and me.

Once I became comfortable with what Rojo was telling me, I would try it out on Cowboy. He was the same age as Rojo, but built light and leggy. While Rojo was communicative, trying to make my body conform to his, Cowboy was silent, and ready to listen for my signals.

I don't know what deity was in charge of gifting me with that particular combination of horses at that particular time in my life, but I will go to my grave being grateful for it.

They were born in '87, and as cavvy horses, it's safe to assume that they were used hard for the rest of their lives. I imagine they both crossed the rainbow bridge sometime in the last 10 years. But their legacy lives on… I talk about them frequently at clinics and such, and the online lessons I teach follow the lesson plan those two laid out for me so many years ago.

Click here forRojo's lesson.