Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Thursday, July 7, 2022

On Using Protection

Big Sister modelling the new chaps. 
Daddy. Ditto.

In the calving field at the Stringam Ranch was a large patch of bullberry bushes.

Or at least that's what we called them.
I don't know what their 'official' name is.
It really doesn't matter.
Whatever their name, they were deadly.
Spikes – I am not exaggerating – up to two inches long.
Against a tender and unprotected human hide, they could do some real damage.
The cows in the field had learned to use them.
When a *gasp* human appeared, they would charge into the bushes.
And chuckle with their friends.
I’m fairly certain.
Moving on . . .
The first time or two, my horse decided to charge in after them.
I should explain that a horse's hide is equally as tough as a cow's.
A human's? See above.
Inevitably I would emerge from such incidents rather the 'worse for the wear'.
As my mother was so fond of saying.
The second time I showed up at home with bloodstains on my shredded jeans, my mother dragged out Dad's heavy hide chaps.
Now, I should mention here that chaps look really good on a tall slim cowboy.
Really, really good.
And certainly they have their uses.
The chaps, not the cowboys.
Okay yes. A cowboy, too, has his uses.
But that is a completely different sort of post . . .
Back to my story . . .
Chaps provide protection from the ravages of ranch work.
They have saved many a pair of jeans from wear during haying.
And many a cowboy from damage when things get up close and personal.
But they are perversely hard to ride in when one is doing so bareback.
I know.
I tried.
Bareback riding requires balance.
Intuition.
And a good grip with the knees.
Chaps, especially heavy ones, prevent the all-important knee grip.
And actually make balance a bit more difficult.
Sigh.
What to do?
Protection won out.
I wore the chaps.
And they sported the scars to prove it.
Picture leather nearly a quarter of an inch thick.
With cuts that went almost all the way through.
That could have been me.
Years later, I showed them to my children.
Who expressed proper and well-deserved awe and amazement.
One day, Husby and I were wandering through a store in cattlemen country.
Hanging from the rafters just inside the front door were a pair of chaps.
But not just any chaps.
These were made of leather, dyed green and purple and gold and pink.
With silver fringe.
I stared at them.
Chaps had obviously changed.
Not just for protection any more.
Now they could be worn to scare cows out of the bush.
Or so that their rider could be seen by satellite.
Ranching has come a long way.

8 comments:

  1. This reader who has ridden a horse maybe three times in her life (including a pony ride at the Bronx Zoo when she was a little girl) is trying to see herself in green, purple, gold and pink chaps with silver fringe. I think I would look spectacular. I also found out that the fringes have a use; they aren't just for decoration. I'm fascinated now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are totally right. Fringes certainly do (did) have a use! Largely forgotten in this day and age!

      Delete
  2. Yes, cowboys with chaps are easy on the eyes!... Laurie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the early morning smile. I wonder whether the 'new and improved' chaps offer as much protection. Some how I doubt it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They certainly weren’t as thick and heavy. I rather doubt it, too!

      Delete
  4. I live in suburbia and know nothing about chaps (altho' I once went to a dude ranch on Colo.). Actually, from the title, I thought this post was about something else!

    ReplyDelete

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