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Cowboy (1961-1974)

In my early years in southwestern Wyoming (Mountain View, 3 years old through 3rd grade), all I wanted to be when I grew up was a cowboy. I remember when Mom and Dad finally broke down and bought a TV. My brothers and I—I do not think my sisters were old enough to even comprehend—had no idea what a TV even was. It was a black and white model, and my brothers and I were soon mesmerized by Roy Rogers andThe Lone Ranger. We would sit astride the arms of the couch, and during a chase scene we would kick and whip the couch arm frantically like it was a horse. We had strict limits on how much TV we could watch. By fourth grade we had moved to western Montana (Seeley Lake) where I read a book calledA Horse for the Winter. It was about a girl whose father knew she wanted a horse. He was able to get her a horse to take care of in the winter and return to its owner in the spring. This was a novel idea, and I am pretty sure that I made sure Dad was familiar with the book. After a while, I kind of resigned myself to living without a horse. Several years later Dad surprised me by arranging for us to get two horses (a white mare and he colt) on loan for the winter from a member of the church, theGrays.

It must have been fall when we went to get the horses. The horses were kept in a pasture behind a closed saw mill. The owner, Marcia Gray, was having some trouble catching the horses, particularly the colt that was to come with us. Marcia and I were watching the young foal running around as we tried to round up the horses with a pickup. I asked her what the name of the colt was. Marcia replied that I could name the colt since it had no name. I commented that it sure was a cute little bugger. I paused and then I said, “That’s her name! Bugger!” Later I found out that Marcia complained to my Dad about the name. Apparently, Bugger had an obscene derogatory meaning. Dad argued, however, that Bugger, in this context, was a harmless word. So, the namestuck.

The first obstacle was getting the mare and foal to our place, which was down about 7–10 miles of road, mostly gravel.. Dad’s plan was that I was going to ride the mare while he followed in the car, assuming the foal would follow. Dad guided me on which