July 2021 - Note from the Saddle Bench

 

Photo credit: Jill Miller

Greetings!

And the rains came… The last two weeks we have seen most of the Davis Mountains get really good rains. 5” plus in some places. Lots of the dry creeks have come down. Both Limpia and Madera are still running water. Lots of topsoil has been rearranged, but it has really greened up. You can almost hear the grass growing.

It’s going to take a while for the country to heal up from this last dry spell. Most of the pastures looked like the lunar surface before it started raining. It’s really been hard for the last two summers. There wasn’t any grass left to slow down the water. But nature has a way of healing things up if we can just get our normal rains for the rest of the summer.

I saw some baby antelopes and aoudad the other day on the scenic loop around Fort Davis. Their mothers seemed to be enjoying the new grass. Hope the antelope do well, they took the dry spells pretty rough. All the critters that grow antlers should have good racks this fall.

We are taking more orders for the Rancher’s Duralite saddle than just about any other style the last few months. It is popular with the older crowd that have trouble nowadays saddling their horse with a 50-pound saddle. The Duralites are weighing 32-35 pounds lighter, but are stout enough to do anything you can do in the regular saddles.

Big Bend Saddlery is now buying used bridles, spurs, and chaps or taking them in on trade for new merchandise. Bring your trading gear by and we will tell you what we can do.

The Sul Ross Rodeo boys put us back on the map at the CNFR. They won several go rounds and either placed in or won their event. Sul Ross student Tristan Hutchings is the new Collegiate World Champion Bull Rider. Congratulations to them and Coach Aragon.

Have a good month!

Gary Dunshee 07/12/2021

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