Cowboy Culture -- The Anomaly

In one of my earlier posts I told you the story about "Canadian whiskey and the paint mare."  I traded that mare a couple of months later for a pretty nice 12-year-old palomino named Sunup.  Eventually I brought Sunup to California where we spent the next decade riding the rocky trails of the Santa Susana Mountains together.  Today Sunup is 27 years old, and is retired in my backyard.

About the time I brought Sunup to California I had acquired a nifty 1930s slick-fork Visalia saddle that fit both of us to a T.  Sunup and that old saddle with its tapaderos inspired a poem I titled "The Anomaly."

The Anomaly

Now ol’ Sunup holds his head up high,

Pretty little golden horse wants to be on the fly.

Old long tapaderos swingin’ from my Visalia tree,

Braided rawhide hackamore with a horse-hair mecate.

Just ridin’ in that California sunshine,

Just ridin’ that ol’ palomino pal o’ mine,

Rockin’, Rollin’, Ridin’.

The Old Man's best display must be the break of day

When through oak leaves shines Sun's first golden ray,

And out on a limb a steller’s jay is a-squawkin’

While cowboys sit around a camp fire a-talkin’.

Just ridin’ in that California sunshine,

Just ridin’ that ol’ palomino pal o’ mine,

Rockin’, Rollin’, Ridin’.

We're listenin’ to the call of those valley quail,

Ridin’ up that blue shadowed canyon trail.

Cottonwoods and sycamores, and a live oak tree,

Tall green grass and a babblin’ brook beside me.

Just ridin’ in that California sunshine,

Just ridin’ that ol’ palomino pal o’ mine,

Rockin’, Rollin’, Ridin’.

We're rockin’ to the rhythm of a creakin’ saddle,

Just gatherin’ up them white-faced cattle.

Coyote slinkin’ through the brush with head slung low,

Redtail hawk soarin’ above the valley below.

Just ridin’ in that California sunshine,

Just ridin’ that ol’ palomino pal o’ mine,

Rockin’, Rollin’, Ridin’.

There's a bobcat in the willows a-starin’ at me

And a big ol' mountain lion we'll never see,

But my little pack horse Star is followin’ behind,

And like old Sunup and me, he’s the happy kind.

Just ridin’ in that California sunshine,

Just ridin’ that ol’ palomino pal o’ mine,

Rockin’, Rollin’, Ridin’.

Grazin’ up on that ridge beyond

Is a mule deer doe and her little fawn,

And I know it’s the Indian’s "berries ripe" moon,

When I find plenty of new sign from brother raccoon.

Just ridin’ in that California sunshine,

Just ridin’ that ol’ palomino pal o’ mine,

Rockin’, Rollin’, Ridin’.

Old oak tree with limbs so gnarled and bold,

Please tell me a tale about the vaqueros of old,

Of a time when the golden bear still roamed free

And old Star, Sunup and me weren't an anomaly.

Just ridin’ in that California sunshine,

Just ridin’ that ol’ palomino pal o’ mine,

Rockin’, Rollin’, Ridin’.

© Jerry England 1997

Read the tale "Canadian whiskey and the paint mare" at http://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2011/10/canadian-whiskey-and-paint-mare.html

1995 photo of me and the paint mare Amigo taken in Cody, Wyoming (Heart Mountain in the background).