At the 1952 Texas Cowboy Reunion, Fred Dalby of Aspermont, Texas and John Burrus, Sr. of Caradan, Texas were awarded trophy saddles in the ranch rodeo event called double mugging. At the time, Dalby was 40 and Burrus was 34. Interestingly, both of these men, who remained friends throughout their lives, died in 2009. One was 92, the other 85. Equally interesting is the note that John Burrus, Jr. won a trophy for the same event 25 years later. The 1952 trophy saddle came to me through my nephew who lives west of Houston. At that time it belonged to an old guy who simply wanted to sell it. According to the story, it had belonged to his brother. How his brother came to own it and how it had traveled from west Texas to the Gulf Coast are details lost to time.

Growing up in the 1940s and '50s, like all other kids of that era, I was a fan of Roy and Dale. If I have to explain that to you, well, you have your own childhood heroes. In the first decade or so of television I was equally a fan of the westerns that populated the airwaves of the time. We lived around horses, although we weren't a ranching family. One of my early memories of riding is set in the cow lot on family land where my Grandma Fuchs dairied with her son, Bubba, out in the country. That country became Houston a long time ago. I guess the horse was King, one of Uncle Bubba's cow horses. In my mind's eye I have hitched King to the board fence so that I can straddle the fence to saddle him. You see, he's too tall for me to stand on the ground and do that. And as I recall, the saddle was my very own, but of course bought used.

I've owned a few horses over the years, and though I was told throughout the years that I rode horses, "you really sit a horse pretty", no rodeo rider am I. I didn't have the talent or the drive to rope a calf or ride rough stock. We were regular fans of the local rodeos all of our growing up years. My oldest sister, Joan, was a barrel racer. All the gear of of the cowboy style continues to appeal to me. It's hard for me to pass up an old hat that someone is offering for sale, especially if it's good quality beaver. Quality a given, used boots, silver belt buckles, saddles and saddlebags, chaps, all of these ring my bell. That's why the 1952 Texas Cowboy Reunion trophy saddle rests on its laurels in the 2-story barn I call home when I am in Texas. I haven't had a horse in a long time, but last count, my saddle holdings include a 1920s Strauss Bodenheimer (Houston), 1940s S. A. Wade (Rosenberg, Texas), 1940s Francisco Vela (Floresville, Texas), a 1930s saddle made for Stelzig's Saddlery (Houston), a saddle attributed to the Texas penitentiary in Huntsville, and of course, the 1952 Cowboy Reunion saddle made by Olsen-Stelzer, Henrietta Texas, one of the premier makers of saddles and boots in the first half of the 20th century.

I guess I'm what you could call a cowboy in spirit. Truth is, I never really wanted to be a cowboy, just like I didn't see myself as a fireman or policeman or President. I like all the trappings and romance of the cowboy world. And the story of the two men who won those champion double mugger saddles at the 1952 Texas Cowboy Reunion in Stamford, Texas is waiting to be told, by me or by someone else. The circle remains unbroken. Namaste.

R. Harold Hollis, Albuquerque NM (May 1, 2012)