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121 Tamale Ridge by: Chuck Cusimano

I think that started me acquiring the desire to be able to ride bucking horses. I did break that

mare and she did buck! She bucked every time I saddled her! Every time I got in the saddle!

And she bucked harder every day for a solid two weeks. She never did buck me off. She came

awful close many times but I always managed to stay in the saddle. I never got one encouraging

word from Uncle Robert about it but he watched me every time I fooled with her. One day he

wanted to ride her and I told him that he better not. He said he’d ride her if he wanted to and I

could do “nothin’ about it”. He got on but she bucked him off and broke two ribs when she

kicked him as he went flying out the back. He never asked to ride her again and he never tried

either. I don’t like to take joy from someone else’s pain but he had that coming. It did cause me

to do double the work, though, until his ribs got better.

The winter passed slowly for me but it always passes slowly. I am always anxious to see the

warmer days and the beginning of green grass. Spring reminds me of newborn foals and calves.

A promise of good things to come. Some folks say they like fall better but not me. I’d been

waiting for the snow to melt and the grass to start growing like a small kid waits for Christmas.

We worked hard all winter and we had a lot to show for it. That new outhouse was quite the

thing. Claudia dug most of the hole by herself and she wanted it that way. I’m pretty sure old

Juan sneaked over there sometimes at night and worked at it himself. Some nights while the rest

of us were sitting around my cabin, Juan would excuse himself for a half hour or so and come

back with dirt, or dust on his clothes. I never asked him about it, because I didn’t want to

embarrass him. He never let on about it, except to chide Claudia about how slow she was

digging that hole.

Gilberto performed magic with the colts. They worked extremely well. He could put a

handle on those colts like I never saw. We promised to deliver a dozen colts this year to the

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