On the outside of the bucking chutes was a loading platform, where the cowboys could climb up and get settled on the bronc, or intoday’s case, where we had our dummy waiting. I couldn’t swipe the silly grin off my face when Cade and two sets of curious brown eyes hopped onto the platform and peered into the chute.
I didn’t think she’d misbehave, but I grabbed Sunday Best’s rope just in case. “Hey, Nora. Hey, Izzy.”
Izzy said hello, but Nora zeroed in on the horse. She pushed out her lower lip and whined, “Oh my goodness he is so cute. I just want to cuddle up with him.”
Cade corrected her. “She’s a girl.”
Izzy asked, “What’s her name?”
“Sunday Best.”
Nora’s face instantly changed. “That isnota good name.”
Izzy elbowed her. “Nora, that’s rude.”
“He looks like aCocoa.”
“She.” Izzy corrected again then rolled her eyes. “Mr. Jesse, can we pet her?”
“If she wasn’t in the chute, I’d say yes.” Hollie hopped onto the platform, and my eyes followed her. She still wore what she’d had on at breakfast—brown tank top and high waisted jeans. Her skin looked warm in the sunshine. Light make-up, messy hair. I had to force my eyes back to the kids. “They get a little excited when they know they’re about to work. So if a horse is in the chute, we don’t really pet it.”
“Like a service dog?” Izzy asked.
“Yeah, kind of. They can get distracted. Or they might accidentally hurt you.”
“Oh, I wanted to pet a horsey.” A dull stomp filled the air as Nora stamped her foot.
“We can be patient, Nora.” Hollie said.
“After we get done, you can say hello to Tillie. Sound good?”
Nora beamed, happy with that answer.
Hollie’s eyes found mine as she asked, “So, do we need to get down? I don’t want to be in the way.”
“Not at all. Do you guys want to see how they buck?”
The girls were very enthusiastic.
So I launched into an explanation about the flank strap,how it’s placed between their belly and their hindquarters and squeezes just a little. I put the black box dummy on Sunday Best’s back and showed them the remote I had. “When she gives us a good buck, I’ll hit the button and the box will release and fall off simulating when a cowboy falls off.”
Hollie smiled. “So positive reinforcement.”
“Exactly. We don’t just want her to buck, we want her to throw off a cowboy that knows how to hang on. So part of training is waiting for her to give us the kind of bucks that bring in the money.”
“That is really cool.”
I looked at the girls. “Ready to see her go?”
They bounced up and down with excitement. I glanced into the arena to see Harlan waiting—our pickup man for the day. Then I hopped onto the chute wall, pulled the lever, and out went Sunday Best.
The girls squealed as Sunday Best put on a real good show. A small cloud of dust formed under her feet, and at the five second mark when she twisted to the right and threw up her hindquarters at the same time, I hit the remote. The release on the dummy snapped and the box rolled to the ground. Instantly, Sunday Best stopped bucking and excitedly pranced around the arena, giving Harlan a time at corralling her again.
I turned back to the audience to find Hollie beaming down at me. “That was amazing! You hit the button when she”—she dipped her right shoulder to show me, lacking the words—“did that.”
“Sure did.”
The girls peppered me with questions as Rock-A-Bye and Hell Bent both got their turns. Hollie pulled out her phone and did a little filming. I needed to get them to a rodeo—this wasn’t even the real fun. Finally, a red mare, Breakneck, was loaded into the corrals and led to the chute.
