Sorry nobody as famous as Ol Augustus. Just me and my old bridle horse, a big paint, Clancy The Rock, in that pic. He was called The Rock long before we ever heard it was a name for a wrestler. He lived till he was 36 which is very old for a horse. Average life span for a horse they say is bout 20. He stayed sound too, was using him on the ranch up till he was a bout 30. Then he was retired out at the ranch with some other older horses. 2,000 acres of horsey Cancun. I traded a black mare and $500 for Clancy. This was back in the early to mid 90's and wasn't making knives then so no knives involved in the trade. Let me take a minute to relate a short story to let ya know what a special horse he really was. This was after he was retired out at the ranch.
We were gathering remnants and had five I was chasing up this brush covered hillside. Brush was so bad that I couldn't see the cattle, just hear them crashing through the brush. A buddy's wife was riding with me and I realized that she was no longer with me, so I slowed down and let the cattle go, as I was more concerned for her as she was riding a horse that occasionally could be opinionated. I headed back down the way I'd come and in a few minutes hooked back up with her. Fortunately she wasn't having horse trouble she just wasn't used to going that fast through such rough country. I figured those five miscreants were long gone but we took our time climbing up that brush covered hill as I knew from the top I'd be able see a long ways and maybe spot them. Well dang if Clancy didn't have them gathered up under a lone tree on the top. He was circling them there keeping them under the tree. Now nobody is riding Clancy, he's doing this on his own! He's turned loose in this 2,000 acre pasture. When we get to the top we waited a minute to let our horses catch their breath and then we pushed the cattle down a long ridge to the water in The Bowl. I was on the left, Angie was on the right and Clancy was in the middle directly behind the cattle. He pushed them all the way to the water by himself a little over a mile. We just rode the flanks to help keep em pointed straight. We let them get a sip or two and then pushed those five problems in leather bags out of The Bowl and onto the flats and then over to the corrals and into a pen. This was a distance of over two miles. When we got to the flats and made the turn to the west to head to the corrals, Angie and Clancy switched places, it was Clancy's idea. He just trotted over to where she was and she moved over to where he'd been behind the cattle, and we pushed the cattle to the corrals. At the corrals we pushed em into a pen and closed the gate Clancy trotted off and we didn't see him again that day. You know moving cattle is an art form and he was an artist. He was never out of time or too far ahead or too far behind. He was perfect, The Rock. Why did he switch positions with Angie? Cause when I was using him a lot I would often take the right side as there were lots of steep hill sides there that the cattle could escape back up to the high country. Ya get a few head on those hillsides and it was like herding cats. So that was his spot, the place he was use to. They didn't even try, not with The Rock on duty.
Branding with The Rock
