Baxter Black

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On the Edge of Common Sense – A Horse Matters

By: Baxter Black I like living someplace where a horse matters. There is just some country where horseback is the only way to get the job done. Places where the four-wheeler is a poor second, not to mention a noisy, track-leaving unnatural conveyance. Besides, it’s hard to throw a rope…

Baxter Black- Cowboy Astrological Signs

By: Baxter Black, DVM Astrology is one of those wonderful pseudo-sciences like naturopathy or cattle futures that anybody with an imagination can rapidly become an expert in. I have taken it upon myself to devise my own astrological symbols. If there is some question which sign you were born under,…

Audio Book Review Rodeo Re-Ride 3 Audiobook Collection

by Baxter Black     Reviewed by Bob Howdy, PhD One moment please—while I rave about Baxter Black’s Audiobooks. Over three decades ago, in our younger days (pre-digitization), before he amazed audiences on Johnny Carson’s TV show (1991), I was drawn to this master humorist, a cowboy-musician-veterinarian, now genius loci…

The Cowboy Way

By Baxter Black, DVM A good cowboy will go beyond the call of duty and even put himself in harm’s way to help a suffering beast. Doug and Patty run a ranch in that big wide country in eastern New Mexico. They’d received several loads of cow/calf pairs. The weather…

Here, By The Owl

A while back I was asked who has had the greatest influence on my live. I hadn’t ever given it much thought, like most folks, I guess. After considerin’ for a while I came up with five people that I could say actually affected the direction of my thinkin’. My…

An Embarrassing Column

Embarrassing moments. Nobody likes to talk about them. Oh, they’ll talk about slipping on the ice on their first date or getting bucked off a gentle horse. Other folks empathize and usually they laugh. But it makes people uneasy when it’s really embarrassing. They might titter nervously but if it’s…

Carhart Cowboy

By Baxter Black, DVMMr. Moses remarked the other day he’d received a catalog in the mail from a western clothing outfit. He wasn’t sure who the outfit catered to, but the name ‘Long Island’ seemed to stick in his mind. The photo on the front had burned an image into…

Corriente Auction

By Baxter Black, DVMIt could only happen to a cowboy.Thurman had established himself as a figure of some note in the Corriente Association. The Association had developed over the years into a successful representative of livestock people dedicated to breeding and supplying roping steers. The Corriente breeders in the northwest…

Team Roping Handicap

by Baxter Black, DVMThe sport (passion, or affliction) of team roping experienced a terrific boom in popularity years ago with the creation of an association called United States Team Roping Championships (USTRC). It established a classification system based on the roper’s skill. It is comparable to the handicapping system used…

Cow Disturber

By Baxter Black, DVM McGraw posed an interesting question. If a cowboy herds a herd of cattle, we call him a herder. If a sheepman herds a flock of sheep, he’s still a herder. Why isn’t he called a flocker? Oley has always referred to himself as a cow disturber….

Horse Psychology

By Baxter Black, DVMSome people are just flat good at handlin’ horses. They’ve got that good “horse savvy.” Matter of fact, there are people actually makin’ a livin’ trainin’ horses! I admire these folks’ ability and special talent. It’s always a pleasure to see a good horse workin’ right. But…

Good Dawg

By Baxter Black, DVM Every genuine or would be cowboy’s pride and joy is his ‘good dawg!’ One of the highlights at a Stock Show is the stock dog trials. Now, allowin’ for the fact that all my exposure to stock dogs in the past had been on workin’ cow…

The Gift

By Baxter Black, DVM Seems like I ride a lot of borrowed horses. At folks’ ranches or trail rides, ropings or brandings they mount me ‘cause I’m usually a long way from home. I often bring my own saddle. They offer to lend me a saddle as well, but I…

Ol’ Roanie

By Baxter Black “How ya doin’ Skip?” I asked. “Okay, I guess,” he said. “Remember my good rope horse?” I remembered. Skip, like me is left-handed and therefore requires a left-handed heelin’ horse. Whenever I’m in southern New Mexico he lets me borrow ol’ Roanie. Last time I had been…

The Battle of the Abandoned Horse

Real Cowboys & Indians vs. Hollywood and Urban America The furor of lawsuit threats, animal rights terrorists, gesticulating celebrity actors and ex-politicians traveling the countryside like Barnum and Bailey is finally bringing out those who really have something at stake in the Wild Horse/Domestic Horse slaughter issue. It is easy…

Baxter Black – Horses Good As Gold

Some horses are as good as gold. They take care of kids just learning, old cowgirls with osteoporosis, cowboys of any age who should have a designated driver, and homeward bound riders lost in a blizzard. I classify these gold horses in the same category as those equidae who performed…

Baxter Black – Halter Safety

I can always count on my friends to add a new page to my scrapbook entitled “How to Mess up a Simple Calving.” This chapter would be entitled “Halter Safety.” Rob was deep into calving his heifers. His calving lot was football field size including a small shed and a…

Baxter Black – The Heeler Mentality

It all started when my wife asked, “What happened to your head?” “Where?” I asked, thinking I had scratched it in the mesquite or during the night while I was sleeping someone had tattooed “KICK ME” across my forehead. She reached up and touched me above the left ear. “Oh,”…

Confessions of a Horseshoer

I was asked by the author of Confessions of a Horseshoer* if he could use one of my quotes in his book. I agreed. He sent me a copy. The quote he used was “It’s not that horseshoeing is so hard, it’s just the dread of doing it.” My first…

Why No Farmer Poetry?

Cowboy poetry is one of my efforts. I do my best but sometimes when I am in the corn belt or entertaining the Western Pistachio Growers, I’m asked why I don’t do more farmer poetry? I try to explain to them that cowboy poetry is about wrecks; horse wrecks, cow…