Everyone’s Got a Hang-Up

By MARILYN HALVORSON

 

 

 

Seems everyone’s got a hang-up these days
So neurotic they all need a shrink
But the kind of hang-up I’m talking about
Can mess you up quick as a wink

It happened one day with the buckskin
One tall drink of water, that horse
I rode her out to check cattle
And had gates to open, of course

Now, as I was leaving the pasture
One more gate led out to the road
But the buckskin was restless and eager
“Get back in the saddle! Let’s go!”

As I swung my right leg ‘cross the cantle
The mare gave a flick of her tail
And the hair wound around the rowel of my spur
Making each of our movements derail

I tried to swing my leg forward
I tried to swing my leg back
But tail hair is truly tenacious
And a solution I truly did lack

Then I glanced over my shoulder
And my panic reached still greater heights
For along came a car in the distance
Soon someone would witness my plight!

So, the very thought of discovery
Gave me strength that just wouldn’t fail
And I gave that foot a momentous jerk
I pulled out half of the poor buckskin’s tail

The mare gave a leap like a bullfrog
And I lit hard in the saddle to ride
My right foot swung down with momentum
And my spur jabbed the mare in the side

The ride home that day was not pretty
>Horse and rider did not dance with great style
Now I’m taking that mare to the races
Cause I think she did a ten-second mile.

 

Sundre-area rancher and multi-award-winning author Marilyn Halvorson has written over 20 novels, including the young adult book, Cowboys Don’t Cry, which was later made into a movie.