It began as a brisk October morning. I awoke to the sounds of a match striking the box. It was the boss woman starting the heater. It also meant that we needed to get up immediately. We quickly got dressed and headed out the door to catch the horses. The "mama's" stayed in the cold camper to make breakfast. We would be having a slice of ham for breakfast simmered in grease. One slice. I knew it would be a long day at that moment. The four-wheeler wouldn't start due to the cold weather and so the boss woman came out to start it. We headed towards the frost-covered hills and found the horses. We offered them grain and quickly caught them. The horses to be rode were Scout, Pearl, and Coco; the oldest horses in the herd. We led the horses back to the corral and saddled them up. No problems all morning. We headed to Boot Hill to meet up with the rest of the Tio Grande Association. We were discouraged in seeing that only 5 other people would be rounding up the cows with us. Each was sent to a different unit and all expected to bring back cows with the help of only one other person. We debated who would go where and eventually concluded that I would be accompanying Jackie and Rachael in searching out the cows in Lucero Lakes. We would also be bringing a batch from the Bean Patch. We had rode the previous day and found over 30 head. Four of which where bulls that I spent hours riding the countryside trying to bring them in. I was delighted in this knowledge and gleefully headed on my way. Lucero Lakes is rather close in proximity to the corrals and I knew we would be one of the first groups back. We headed out and parked our trailer next to some Mexican hunters. Dagger immediately ran over to their grill and ate the remains of their breakfast. Humiliated, I walked over and used my Spanglish to smooth over the situation. We unloaded our horses, said our goodbyes to mom, and began the search for the cows. At that time, my saddle sores began bleeding again. Why of all days did I forget my chaps? As we were riding over the rocky terrain, we found pocket after pocket of cows. Each hill we climbed resulted in finding more cows, but only a few at a time. Jackie kept behind the herd and sent Rachael and me to the different stock ponds to pick up the cows. Our herd grew with every return. Finally, we had brought all the cows in sight and began pushing the herd from the last stock pond. Suddenly, the horse beneath me began falling to the ground. She wouldnt put weight on her back leg. I jumped off and walked her around searching for the problem. She then fell to the ground. I tried to quickly take off her saddle before she rolled on top of it. Shakingly, I pulled off her bridle and walked away from her. She laid on the ground and that was it. She was going to die. I left my saddle and bridle and climbed on Rachael's horse. My sunglasses had to hide the tears that were building up. I had killed Pearl! We would ride double out of the canyon and then I would begin my long walk to the corrals. Pearl got up and followed us. Falling down and rolling over as we went. She fell into a fence and Jackie had to strategically untangle her. We continued chasing the cows. Rachael on horse, me on foot, and Jackie took of to Willow Crossing with a small herd to get help. We walked for what felt like miles. Blisters were arising all over my feet. Cowboy boots were not the proper attire for the task that lay ahead of me. Hours passed by and we were nearing the corrals. Sophie, formerly Pedro, drove to us and began helping chase the cows. He/She giggled at the story I began telling. She told me that this would be the horses last ride. She was far too old to be doing this much work. BUT she did make it back to the corrals before me resulting in a ting of anger that she had caused me to walk so far and made it back before me. We put all our cows in and checked the time. It had taken us hours to do what we thought would be a simple task. I, without a horse, was of no use for the rest of the day. I watched as all the other wranglers brought in their cows. Once we all returned to the corrals, we quickly ate lunch and began sorting. The cows ran through the alley of the corrals with ease until a poor looking cow came running towards us. She hit the surrounding fences and was inches from throwing Jackie into the air. We finally finished sorting and began on our last ride to get cows. They proved to come easily until we approached the corrals. It was dusk and we needed them to get in quickly. One of the riders decided to cut his cows from the herd and take them to his trailer. It was only one rider pushing the cows into the corral. One broke away and the rider took after her. Rachael and me jumped on our horses and ran to help them. We got all the remaining cows in but the one that ran off. The rider finally gave up after the cow began ramming into his horse. We all rode back to the corral and said good riddance. We headed back to the camper where Rachael and me packed our things and headed home. The blinker on the Beast was broken. I only hoped I wouldnt be turning left in front of any cops. We awkwardly spoke all the way home and I dropped her off at the Bush residence. When I got home, Pumpkin and me hobbled in. We were greeted by a sick Papa bear who was in no mood for chatting. We headed to bed and I searched for my phone so I could set my alarm to go to church but alas my phone was gone. I had lost it. I went to bed that night hoping to never awake again to a day like that. Luckily, you only turn 22 once.
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