Apples and Hosses
Apples and Hosses
I started to cowboy just sixteen and raw
On a spread east of the divide
The boss man was as tough as I ever saw
He didn’t keep nothin’ inside.
I knew your pa, he says, a long time ago
He was tough and built for this land
I never saw him quit or even go slow
Might you be this same kind of man?
I’d never thought one way or the other
About what sort of man I was
He says I’ll find out this way or another
Just what’s underneath that peach fuzz
You see that notch in the hills yonder?
There’s a painted filly up there
There’s a black stud don’t let her wander
I want you to bring her down here.
Now I didn’t know no better back then
Took a sack of apples to eat
Headed to the place he said they’d been
A drizzly day with rain and sleet.
I got to the notch and the sun was bright
And shone on the stud and the paint
I had no plan but I could think all night
To see if I can or I cain’t.
I leaned on a tree, ate apples all night
And thought ‘til my brain got sore
Just at dawn I heard a hoss take a bite
They were eatin them apple cores.
Jumped on my hoss, sack on my back
And headed straight down the hill
An apple now and then outta the sack
I dropped to give them their fill.
Rode home with the paint and the stud
Followed by four mares and two colts
Poured out the apples fast as I could
Closed the gate and threw all the bolts
Well the bossman was grinnin’ ear to ear
Never saw nothin’ that clever
He says your daddy was never even near
As smart as that, nossir never.
Well I wound up just another cowpoke
No more or no less than you
I get drunk and I’m always half broke
But the story ‘ bout apples is true.
Copyright © Larry Bradfield | Year Posted 2016
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