Ther
There’s a place in Montana that we call The Breaks,
So remote it’s not studded by homesteader stakes.
Where mostly the coyotes and antelope roam,
Where a herd of wild ponies once made their home.
Sheltered by coulés, munching bunch grass,
Free as the wind, their days they did pass.
There were three speckled ponies, a bay, and a roan,
And every other color that the prairie has known.
But the finest steed that you ever had seed,
Was black as the night, the best of the breed.
A Little Rockies cowboy set out one day,
To catch him a horse to earn him some pay.
In Hideout Canyon he found the Devil’s own,
He vowed to catch him, and he’d do it alone.
The cowboy rode hard and threw a long rope,
He missed several times, nearly givin’ up hope.
Finally, he looped him and all hell broke loose,
For hours they fought, then called a truce.
Back at the ranch he saddled up Bill,
What happened next was a contest of will.
Bucking and snorting, he sunfished about,
And the cowboy’s fate was sometimes in doubt.
It took a week before the breakin’ was done,
And somehow it happened, the cowboy had won.
He pulled out a flask and took him a sip,
When Bill leaned in, he gave him a nip.
From that day on they worked as a pair,
Rounding up cattle, they had not a care.
Besides the whisky, Bill liked eatin’ straw hats,
And swattin’ his tali at the flies and the gnats.
The time finally came for quittin’ the range,
Rex moved to town, cuz he needed a change.
He married our mom and had him a son,
Got him a job, but it wasn’t much fun.
At the Glasgow auction, he sold Whisky Bill,
But the new owner tried to wear down his will.
Bill bucked him off, put his arm in a sling,
And Bill ended up in a buckin’ horse string.
Well, that is the story of old Whisky Bill,
I hope he broke free and he’s out there still.
LDT October 6, ‘26
I was too young to remember Whisky Bill. The family story goes that when it came time to sell him, Dad put Mom and all three of us kids on him and led us around the arena to show how tame he was. Later we heard that he wound up as a bucking horse.
Main Menu- http://www.azrockdodger.com