My
father Bill turned fifty shortly after I was born,
and mostly what I remember is what took place from
the late 1950's on. Bill never considered himself
an artist as it related to his braiding. Braiding
was mostly done in winter and spring months when
the humidity worked in favor of the keeping the
right moisture in the rawhide. Not a big reader,
most of his time was spent working with his
horses, the ranchland, and his family during the
daylight hours.
Saddle room at Mt. Toro Ranch
He would rawhide early in the
mornings, after dark, or when the weather was on
the inclement side. He always said that it was
something a fella could do if he was laid up. He
never stayed laid up long enough to do much
rawhiding, and the manner at which he went about
it would not have lent itself to healing an
injured body.
Mt.
Toro Headquarters 1950's
In the years prior to meeting his
wife Marie, he made some rawhide to sell along
with what he was using. Rawhiding was an all
encompassing term that took in cutting the string
to making the finished reins, bosals, reatas, and
hobbles. The quality of his work was very fine
with tight straight crosses on his reatas. When he
checked over a reata, he would look to see if the
string was cut uniformly, the crosses set up
tight, and smooth splices. He would hold the reata
coils with a hand on each side and push the coils
toward the center to check the springness of the
braided strings. A new reata needed to have had
decent string to have lots of spring. He liked
reatas when they were new, in their prime, and at
the end of their lifespan. I remember many a time
when he finished a reata at night and was using it
the next morning. Dogs and cats were not allowed
into the rawhide or saddle room. Mice and rats
were trapped with a vengeance. He was not about to
have his gear spoiled by having it chewed up. He
was not inclined to let his rawhide go to where it
was not going to be taken care of or used. A reata
left on the ground where the dogs could get to it
was very offensive, and someone who led or tied
their horse by the rawhide reins offended him
greatly.
Rancho Tularcitos Carmel Valley
I
never remember my mother roping an animal. My dad
would rope an animal, get it handling, and then
hand it off to my brothers or myself to dally and
hold. He would then heal it, and hand it off to
the other fella. He would then get off, fix the
ropes, doctor or brand it. He got quite a bit of
roping in, and we got quite of bit of dallying in.
He had to keep a close eye on us, as wandering 5
and 7 year old minds kept things happening on an
all too regular basis.
When he needed to doctor a
bull or cow, he would catch it by the head and
work with it until he could ride clear around it.
He would be out aways, and he would get about
three circles around it with his reata. When he
was directly behind the animal he would ride off.
The circles would pull off the front legs and
remain around the hind legs. One of us would ride
up and lay our loop over the hind feet and dally
up. He would get off and get his doctoring done,
pull his rope off and mount up. Most of the reatas
that he used for this were small in diameter and
made out of a hide off of a thin cow. Bull hides
were used for burners, and a fat hide for reins or
hobbles.
Rana Creek Ranch 1987
In
the 1980's my dad started use a 5/16" poly rope.
He did not have the strength to make many reatas,
or the strength to pitch one any distance. The
small poly ropes worked for the close roping he
was doing and were not affected by the weather. He
used reatas off and on in his later years, but
when his arm started to tire he would switch to
the lighter poly. He sure liked to rope and was
working with his horse the entire time.
Steve Dorrance
Salinas, California
