Christmas on Horseback – Be Thankful this Christmas!

It’s not common for folks to spend a lot of time on horseback these days, even on ranches.  Horses have been replaced by UTVs, pickups with cake boxes and hydra beds, and heated enclosed tractors complete with air ride seats and Bose sound systems.  You don’t have to go back that far in history to find that these things were only dreams and not common at all.  Truly, my horse trailer is nicer than the inside of the ranch trucks we used to drive.  I remember in particular a Christmas Day growing up on the ranch where all the above accoutrements would have been greatly appreciated but were 30 years in the future.

The particular Christmas in question was set up to be a day of rest and family.  We had gotten in a couple of loads of calves to turn out on wheat pasture a few days before and they seemed to be settling in nicely after a long ride from Mississippi.  As Mother Nature often does, she threw a curve ball in the form of a blue northern that rumbled across the panhandle of Oklahoma like a tiger stripe cow separated from her calf.  The beautiful days of Indian summer gave way to plummeting temperatures, howling winds and a spit of snow and the gentile nature and perfect health of our newly acquired bovine citizens from Mississippi disappeared faster that a Baptist deacon at the liquor store.  Well, the dreams of a peaceful holiday were quickly replaced by the daunting task of doctoring cattle on Christmas day.  Horses saddled; medicines prepared we loaded up to go doctor sick calves.  Nowadays, the critters would be coaxed into a corral, sorted into modern working facilities, captured by a hydraulic chute, and then doctored with the latest in antibiotics.  Truthfully, the chance of critters even getting sick would be much less with the advancement of vet science and the vaccines that have been developed to stave off the respiratory killers that used to threaten our herds. We unloaded our horses tied on our ropes and went about doctoring Chianina cross calves that could run like the wind, jump like gazelle and were meaner than the devil on Sunday.  When the day was finally done, both cowboys and equines were worn out.  Cattle, cold, and wind had sucked the life out of all involved and we were ready to head home less than thankful for a wasted Christmas!

As I look back, I had a lot to be thankful for that I ignored that Christmas.  I had the benefit of warm clothes, a good horse, able companions to help and a warm meal in front of a warm fire when the day was done.  It seems to me we currently live in a culture that constantly yearns for more, and yet it is the simple things for which we should be the most thankful. This Christmas, if we have family to share the holiday, a roof over our head and a belly warm from being filled, we are better off than much of the world.  We live in a nation that constantly complains, and yet, we are not war torn, we don’t have tyrants that rule us, and we are generally (taxes and hostile regulations not withstanding) able to enjoy the fruits of our labors.  Factually, we have it pretty darn good, and it’s important to appreciate it from time to time.

Merry Christmas Everyone!  May your heart be filled with peace, joy, and thankfulness this holiday season.

Onward and Upward,  

Dale G. Steenbergen  

President/CEO  

Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce