Document text
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hip)s, -oody
langelore
Tarrant lo.,nint.
"age
Victor 1. loovilla, 48, was b,rrt 'need?,
1889, on his father's ranch,'The *Ilenrerleafg,
loaated in Avails, and 1,aIalle cos.,with
ranch headndiffters about 54 mi. .of Ian -1ntonio,
Tex. 1'c:ovine's boyhood ambition was to emulate
the various eowboys on the ranch in riding and
roping, in which he received the continued en-
c-)uragement of his father. Es ..as able to ride
a horse when he was only four years old, and at
eight he was able to do anything on a horse that
didn't require a man's strength. kw a large part
of a oowboy's work depends on the horse's know-
ledge and strength, Icoville was able to perfone
the regular duties of a cowboy. !Is left the range
when he was 18, to work in the various oil booms
that occurred in Texas. whenever possible, he en-
tered various rodeos, winning many contests on
acoount of his skill. Re was mustered out of the
*florid 7sr a cripple, and now tours the country with
a trained mule. His address is 700 'Alain qt..
"ort worth, Tex. His story:
"I was a coaboy back in the days when they didn't have no
fences, everywhere you looked. In fact, when I was a kid, they
didn't have a fence nowhere near my dad's place. That was 'way
back in the 1890's, though.
"To begin with, r was born on my dad's rani, ""ec. 17,1889.
The ranch was known as 'The lloverleaft, and was located in 7-rio,
'avails, an ',elan.. counties. 7eadquarters was in 'Frio county,
about 54 miles so.ith of an Antonio,Tex. "",a,4 had over 50,000
head in the 'TA' and 'lloverleaft irons. The last iron wasn't
really a cloverleaf design, but kinds looked like one. It was
made with two Vs, one of them a straight (1, with the other made
in a horizontal way without leaving an opening in the first I.
"I can remember, now, how anxious I was to be a cowpuncher,
and how I'd ride everything I could get on 'til I was able to
?hipps,.
Rengelore
Tarrant .17
?age r 2
711
ride anything that run on four feet, anti could ,,;et to a snubbing
post. I roc ,,,yearlings 'til I rode 'em down, and I rode every
hoes that I could saddle 'til I really did et good at it, for
sure. by dad 'meted me to be a rfood rider, so he helped me along
by c7i.ving me a hoss,now and then, and pointing out my faults.Then
I was four years old, I could ride real Tood. nf course, I
co‘zldn't ride no wild bosses, but I had several spills from
brones on frosty mornings when they kinda wanted to stretch out.
You take any bronc, and he'll do it in spite of anything you eat
do. I've seen 'em whipped 'til the blood run, but they'd buck
aaifl as if they'd never been whipped for it. rt regular oowpanoher
ta',:es that in a day's work and never gets mad about it, because
he knows the brono wants to limber up.
'Wow, I don't mean to brag when t tell you about riling wild
bosses, but some )eople are born. with tie knack of handlin,a; some
things od and others not at all. I reckon if you was to ask me
to push a typewriter, I couldn't get to firnt base in ten years;
on the other hand, if you was offered a Job wrangling bosses, v.ou
might do the same as I would in pushin.,7 a typewriter. (If °curse,
you. can't never tell about those things; out T do know that few
people can handle bosses as well as some can.
"Now, about wild ?losses: why, r was riding 'en when I was
eir7ht years old; and my dad would bet money that T could ride
any hoes,anywhere. Tell you anothm thing: I was never thtowed
after I was ei,s7ht years old. I rode in rodeos, too; rode min-
k llers that had already killed several men. One of 'am I rode
was named 'Worth Park Mae. .ife killed six or seven men before
7hipps, woody
Hangelore
Tarrant Clo
Page 13
z7ot the chance to ride him at the 10.ko,Wevada Rodeo, in 1915.
I rode that hose and won the contest. kli the papers told about
the nen he'd killed, and sail that I was the only man that ever
rode him. I knew he was a bad hoes, because a couple of oowpunchers
told me about what the hoss had done before. I didn't care much,
but I was extra careful.
"The reason r was able to put on sueh ai7Dol show for tiam,
in the rodeo, was because r was always picking out bad actors on
the home ranch. I had hosses to fall on me, roped critters from
green bosses, and had 'em jerked out from under Tile, and.roped
critters too big for any hose to hold. ".:peaking of roping big
critters, I roped a 1, -'00 pound steer in ft rodeo at tialfurrias,
Tex. in 15 seconds, flat. That was in 1904. That same year, two
famous hoes riders put up a bet that each one could best the other.
It was 7.1ay MoOoni7a1 and niddie Volarrol. They put up )5,100.
with the winner to tale tie entire gate,too. It come off at the
bail park in 7an 'ntonio. 'al took me with him into Antonio,
an! let le stay to see the whole thing. It was to last four lays,
and plenty people come out to see it.
The first iv, llay's ropinz.: hoes bucked ::-And lost that day
him; the second lay, the same. 7o I went to him and asked him
.40 r
to use my hose. had a :rood one, one that rid trained myself.
Re toli me to brin hira out for a trigily so the next morning,
bri,-.ht and early, I was there. I says, 'nay, let me show you
what he can do without the bridle on him'.
"He says, "trqt your stuff'. I too.% the bridle off, pointed
the critter o t to the hose, and we had it roped in short order.
Ts'hipps, 7oody
Ran,gelore
"arrant
Pao:e
A
ell, Clay decided to use the hoes, an he won the contest.
‘Ifter the doings was over, nay offered. me )200.00 for the hose,
hut t wouldn't take that. It wasn't long after that, when some
other kids and myself auls out a -hunting. "re'd tied my hose up
at the camp, and was off in the timber. Than we come back to the
camp my hoes was down, with a bullet in his shoulder. I walked
and ran all the way hack to an Antonio, 14 miles, for a veter-
inarian. qe °sae back with me in his buziti and *tipped the team
all the way, but we were too late. Re cut a /22' bullet out of
the hose's shoulder.
"knother thin
three spoilt hoses
Ism like you would a
Oout t'te ranches:
on hand, to try out
plow hose, and no
they always kept two or
new hands. ",rou.'d .7et on
tellin' when he" came
unbuckled. That was lots of fan. (70netimes a fellow'd 7et ty.-4rt
a little, but we was always on hand_ to hel7) him out of a ti ht
spot.
"I rent:Tither one rmeenhorn that come oat to the place, looking
for a 16 foot hose that '4 been gentleled. "'ell, you wouldn't ask
for a better set-up for some fun than timt. "re led out an old,
broke -down lookini: hoes for him to try, and he almost turned the
hoes down on account of it's looke. 7'e told him to try it, so
weld 'et an idea what he meant by a ',,enteeled' hose. "ell, he
r!oit on, and was thlowek off in lees time that it takes to tell it.
Re never did try another hoss,under no oircametanoes, no matter
how much we talked, but it was worth it. The cowpunchers was fit
be tied, and there wasn't no work that day. They kidded the
Ireenhorn 'til he left the place. The main give -a -way was when
body
iiangelore
Tarrant Co,,list.-1;
Page fb
71r,'
he asked for a 16 foot high hoes. He should have said a '16
hands high', and thrit'2 a big hoeft•
rt TI he
ray we rrot our hosses for the CO IV work, was to catch
wild ones out on the range. "70 had native !,'Iu.stanme, and we'd
turn a young neveland aay, ca• a Kentucky 3.1.ackhawk stud out
with 'est. me 'd have to hunt out tie old studs first, though,
or they'd kill the young ones, because they'd be on the young
ones before they'd know anything about what was s3oing on.
"The way we catehed 'ern up was to let listckie Tidwards, a
crack shot, crease 'em. The way that was done, we'd raise the
herd and chase 'am1'r a day, sometimes two or three days, ac-
cor.din 7 to the spirit t.e stud. had. Tou see, the stud always
lad the mares to the .,/;aterholes, or everywhere the herd went,
and if he had Iota of spirit, or was extra oaey, we'd have to chase
'em 'til they was plum run down. "After we'd run 'em 'til they was
too tired to be cagy, we'd run'est past 0.ackie and he'd toot the
ones we wanted, rii-ht in Vie e-Au.scle over t;e neck the one on
top. That'd numb Nse, 30 they'd drop like Viey was dead. It
wouldn't last b•It about five minutes, but that wa) just lon!
enough fr-Jr one man
o b.awg tie 'em; and we'd on, til we 4ot
all the hosses we wanted.
lirhen we had all we needed, we'd .7o back to each one, untie
him, and one of us wouLd ride him he was partly broke; tien,
we'd 74o on 'til we had 'em all port broke, t 9Y1 head for the
re-ular hose corral, or ruda. There was a re.mlar hogs wrangler
in charge of the reenda. His job WAS to break the hosses and 'tend
to them all the time. I liked that job pretty well, but I liked
Thipps, -loody
Rangelore
Tarrant Co.,ntat..
Page lab
?T1
to get around over the range too well to stay put for a wrana•lec,
so I never holt the job very long at a time.
was about ten year old,on my first trail drive. lone
folks wouldn't call it much trail driving, because we didn't run
the herd very far; bat it was done just like a long trail drive,
so T just call it a trail drive. le only had two trail drives,
and V-ey was both te an kntonio, a 54 mile drive.
'The rest or the c tle that was took off the place went by
rail. "'Ile ratlroad put a spur right up to the ranch headquarters,
so it was too easy, and savad a lot of norleY by .aoine that way.
Then, too, t•ere was lots less danger of stampedes that way, so
it navel mole that way too, becauae you can figure on lositvg
from a dozen to a 100 oritters anytirie thare's a sta.-a-123de. rney911
either run off a cliff, canyon, or scale of fall and ire
rest of 'em will stamp lem lawn. Then a stampede gets under way,
you'd better figuTs on stopping it ar0. .opping i uio.k. The
quieter it 7f3 stopped, tha less beef taey run off, if some of 'em
stint kilt, too.
'The way a stampede i_s stopped, is to have a rider a,et in
front and t -Aryl 44;".e leader. You. see, the ::erd follows a leader,
and if he's turned, you keep tamale; him ftii. the herd is milling
ata7und and :roina no where. They'll soon get tired, and one of 'tam
will bawl. Talk aboat a nice sound: The first bawl is certainly
weloome, because taa-it means that theaherd will be stopped still
in less than five minutes. That's kinds like a wild hoes. If he
ever aawls, you've :got him licked.. course, the bawl is dif:er-
ent from a squeal. Men he squeals, tat means he's still fig ting
Phipps, -oody
Rangelore
Tarrant Co .,nist.!7
?age f7
mad; and you'd better not give him a chance to stomp you or
you're a -7o'er.
"On account of having a bad stomach, a left -over from the
fracas overseas, I'm really as old as an 80, or a 90 year old.
T et such pains at times 'tn.' rtil do anything to anybody, if
they cross me. That 's caused MA to forget lots of things, and I
don't remember so much because of it. After I left the ranch,
wns an oil field boomer, working in first one field, then :another.
7Nerytime I ot a chance, thougi, I'd enter a contest. esides
riding at ?Alto, r ev. rode here in 1.7brt Worth tor nine straight
rodeos. Then, T rode at Mineral Mlle, Tax. and Rawlings, TY0. I
role and roped at t'lese rodeos, an made pretty ;7101 money at it
because I pretty nea:ly always finished in tie money.
°.linoe the war, 7've worked here and there at lifferent
things, but not for lonr at a time because my stomach goes to
tripping ma up, anl then I have to q),,it. main way cr! makin7
a living, now, is a throwback from my hose ridin7 lays. Tly knack
of handling bosses helped me to train. a mule to lo anything a
mule (mull be taught. I work for advertising people everywhere,
with tht mule. bo t t main thing we do is to work for beer
cmpanies. T fix u, in a (amen suit and walk down the street with
the mule. He'll bow to one side, ten another, and by the time
we reach a bear joint that handles the beer we're advertising,
T holler 'Rey!' at him, end he turns his ear to me. Then, I act
ll'ae I'm whisperin7 something in his ear, and T'll vint toward
tqe Joint. He'll shake his head up and down, then we'll go inside.
This attracts tie crowd inside, and we go ri: ht up to the bar,
!..'hiops, Woody
Rangelore
Tarrant Co.,/ist.;-'''?
Page 18
where Tt11 order two bottles of the kind we're advertis ing. Just
set his bottle on the bar, and he picks it up in his mouth, hniding
on to the neck with his teeth, then empties the bottle. 1:aikes it,
too. Vfl hate to have to pay for all he could hold, because he
can sure out -drink Tne.