This years show marks our 10 year anniversary. 2006 was the
year that I bought my piece of Elsey Station in the form of a horse with half
an ear. He's been at my side since then. My team mate, my partner, the one
thing I can rely on. Through sinkholes and old barbed wire, through thick scrub
and through thin he's been there. Slamming hoof prints into my heart. A total
ratbag when he wants to be, Prince Charming when it suits.
Many other horses have passed in and out of his life, as
they have mine. Chief was a faithful companion for many years. I'd feed them
everyday between rounds on Willeroo to put the weight from first round back on
them. They got so habitual about it that I only needed to open gates for them,
no halters, no stuffing about. If I floated them anywhere they would take it in
turns to rock the float. Charger would make it sway, Chief would make it
wiggle. Chief left us in 2010 and crossed Rainbow Bridge.
In 2006, after leaving the contract mustering camp we headed
to Bonalbo Station in the Douglas Daly. He thought he was top shit with all
those mares around and all the geldings so much older than him. It was at
Bonalbo that Charger and I found ourselves in a sinkhole.
2007 saw us attempt Timber Creek Campdraft. We did poorly.
2009 was when I had the brilliant idea of having another crack at a campdraft,
Nixon's Crossing. Charger expressed his dissatisfaction at this by dumping me
in the dirt and dragging me a few metres. We didn't compete.
Early 2011 we slipped in mud. He was fine, I went to
hospital with severe concussion.
Early 2012 Ruby was added to the mix and he thought it was
great that he had a mare for a paddock mate again. I then eased him into a lie
that was retirement later that year. Retirement, at age 21, was just me saying
without realising "There's no more mustering for us anymore buddy".
When Ruby was unfit to ride he got saddled or jumped on bareback. Then, in
early 2015, I got a new saddle, the previous one having been trashed in the stack
of early 2012. It was only natural that he had the unwanted honour of being the
first to be ridden in it.
The mystery of his missing ear is somewhat solved after
distinguishing one story, which is likely to be a lie, from another, that
involves the person who told the lie, that is far more likely to be the truth.
The hair around his muzzle and his coronets have been growing grey for some
time now. He loses weight in the Build Up these days and requires extra special
supplementary feeding during that time. But at 25 years old he is still
soldiering on and remains stoic. I may have paid too much for him in 2006 but
for me he's been worth every fucking penny. Happy Anniversary Old Man!
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| Katherine Research Station, December 2015 |
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| Charger and Ruby, McAdams Road 2012 |
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| Providence Station, early Wet 2011 |
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| Chief and Charger, Willeroo Station, December 2009 |
Napier Road 2013
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| Kidman Springs, Wet Season 2008 |
