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Speaker 1: Welcome to this Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

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Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my stories and the country skills that will help you

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Speaker 1: beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as

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Speaker 1: part of Meat Eater's podcast network, bringing you the best

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Speaker 1: outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends,

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Speaker 1: pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I

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Speaker 1: think I got a thing or two. The teacher, What's

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Speaker 1: in a name? Have you ever thought where some names

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Speaker 1: come from? Why is old Spot called Old Spot? Well, well,

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Speaker 1: the answer to that may be obvious, But what about

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Speaker 1: sea biscuit Ren ten ten or Old McDonald's faithful sidekick.

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Speaker 1: What's in a name? And should we put more thought

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Speaker 1: into it? Since there may be a chance you could

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Speaker 1: be raising a historically significant human being or an animal.

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Speaker 1: That's the subject today, and I'm going to talk all

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Speaker 1: about it. But first I'm going to tell you a story.

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Speaker 1: Back around nineteen eighty eight, I was working for Georgia

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Speaker 1: Pacific and renting a house with a barn, a pond,

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Speaker 1: and a pasture not far from where I grew up.

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Speaker 1: My brother Tim and I had yet to start our

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Speaker 1: duck and gooseguid in business, so I still had time

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Speaker 1: to for all my other hunting passions, and squirrel hunting

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Speaker 1: with dogs off horses was right up there at the top.

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Speaker 1: My dad, as I've sat on here before, was a

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Speaker 1: tree dog man from way back. The line of mountain

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Speaker 1: kerk tree dogs that we had had come from a

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Speaker 1: long line of dogs that had started way before I

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Speaker 1: was born. There was Bob, Trixie, Tip, Sambo, Prissy, and

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Speaker 1: and others like Buck. Now don't confuse him with Dad's

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Speaker 1: huge buckskin horse whose name was also Buck, but Buck

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Speaker 1: the mountain kerr, who was the last squirrel dog to

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Speaker 1: hold that rank of being my dad's last dog. But

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Speaker 1: this isn't a dog story, it's horse story, a story

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Speaker 1: of perseverance and persistence. I didn't make a lot of money,

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Speaker 1: having just gone to work, but I could afford horse feed.

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Speaker 1: So my dad and a friend of his were at

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Speaker 1: a horse sale and ate of Oklahoma one weekend and

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Speaker 1: he called me to tell me, said, son, check the

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Speaker 1: fence around your pasture and get a stall in your

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Speaker 1: barn squared away and go get some horse feed. I'm

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Speaker 1: bringing you a horse. I was beyond excited, so being

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Speaker 1: a good son, or trying to be, I did exactly

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Speaker 1: what he told me to do. I walked the fence,

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Speaker 1: I made sure there was no gaps. I prepared a

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Speaker 1: stall for the new member of the family the dad

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Speaker 1: was bringing me, and made a run to the feed store.

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Speaker 1: Well that night, around midnight, Dad rolled in with a

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Speaker 1: regsted sorrow quarter horse named Ken's Reward. I let him

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Speaker 1: off the trailer and through the gate and into the lot,

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Speaker 1: and I secured him for the night in his stall.

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Speaker 1: Dad said, start early in the morning, get him brushed off,

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Speaker 1: feed him, lead him around, and start getting him used

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Speaker 1: to you. I couldn't wait. I could hardly sleep. Tomorrow's Saturday,

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Speaker 1: and I'd have all day to start working with his

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Speaker 1: horse together. Kin's Reward. Now, I were going to dominate

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Speaker 1: the squirrel woods this winter. By the time all the

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Speaker 1: leaves hit the ground, I'd have a woods horse that

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Speaker 1: was as solid as Dad's old buck, the buckskin horse,

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Speaker 1: not the mounta Kirk. The Dad pulled in about the

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Speaker 1: time the coffee stopped dripping, and after a little breakfast,

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Speaker 1: we went to the barn. He'd brought me a good

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Speaker 1: Herford saddle, a couple of blankets, and a brand new

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Speaker 1: headstall and set of reins. I was set. I had

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Speaker 1: an open pasture with good grass, a spring fed pond

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Speaker 1: that wouldn't turn over in the summertime, and a barn

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Speaker 1: that was older than anyone I knew, but was solid

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Speaker 1: with a good roof. Dad had just added the last

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Speaker 1: component to complete the circle, a fine bread American quarter horse.

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Speaker 1: I rigged up some haystring and hung my saddle from

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Speaker 1: a rafter, and then A fed my horse. Then while

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Speaker 1: we watched him e Dad told me the story of

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Speaker 1: how he came to buy him. He gone to the

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Speaker 1: cell with one of his best friends in the whole world,

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Speaker 1: mister Steve Ashcraft. And mister Steve is a wonderful man,

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Speaker 1: and I love him and his whole family. They're good folks,

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Speaker 1: they're real good folks. But he said, me and Steve

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Speaker 1: went to the sale looking for something for you specifically,

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Speaker 1: and when this horse came up, we both knew he'd

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Speaker 1: be what you wanted, and I got him at a

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Speaker 1: good price. So, for some reason, and I can't think

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Speaker 1: of one, but for some reason, if he don't work out,

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Speaker 1: we can get him money back on him, and we'll

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Speaker 1: get you another. Sounds good to me, Dad, I can't

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Speaker 1: thank you enough for getting him for me. We just

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Speaker 1: stared at him. He was slick as a minute. After

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Speaker 1: I brushed him off. Dad looked at his feet. He'd

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Speaker 1: eventually need to be shod, but I wouldn't be hitting

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Speaker 1: the gravel for quite a while, and I had plenty

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Speaker 1: of good pasture to ride him in until we did. Now.

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Speaker 1: I don't remember exactly how it came up in the conversation,

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Speaker 1: but I do remember the change in Dad's tone of

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Speaker 1: voice when he said, Now, this horse comes from rodeo stock.

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Speaker 1: He wouldn't buck to suit them folks, so they broke

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Speaker 1: him and used him as a ranch horse. I didn't

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Speaker 1: even acknowledge it. He said the word buck. I slid

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Speaker 1: right over it, and I asked, you can rope off

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Speaker 1: of him? Dad said, that's what the man said. Cool,

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Speaker 1: he must be pretty solid. He sure looks it. We

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Speaker 1: walked back up to the house and had another cup

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Speaker 1: of coffee, and Dad took off to whatever he had

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Speaker 1: planned for the rest of the day. Now, my job

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Speaker 1: was to get this horse used to me. I let

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Speaker 1: him around the lot, changing directions, telling him whoe even

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Speaker 1: had him trotting a couple of times. And this was

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Speaker 1: going to be easier and quicker than any of us thought.

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Speaker 1: Dad said, let him get good and used to you.

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Speaker 1: Let him see that you're on his side before you

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Speaker 1: saddle him up, Feed him, pet him up, brush him good.

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Speaker 1: Just interact with him, show him who's the boss. Then

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Speaker 1: saddle him up, put his butt to work for you,

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Speaker 1: ride the hair slap off of him in that pasture. Hey,

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Speaker 1: that's easy enough for me. I've been riding horses all

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Speaker 1: my life. I ain't scared of them. I respected them

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Speaker 1: because they were a lot bigger than me. But I

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Speaker 1: grew up riding horses that my dad had broke to

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Speaker 1: the point that I could stand up in the saddle

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Speaker 1: and pull vines to make a squirrel move, with limbs

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Speaker 1: and leaves falling all over the horses head and ears,

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Speaker 1: and they not move a muscle. Old buck, the horse,

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Speaker 1: not the mountain kerk. I have stood in the saddle

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Speaker 1: and fired a shotgun over his head at a running

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Speaker 1: squirrel and his ears didn't even he was solid. Now

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Speaker 1: That's what I'm used to dealing with. They didn't all

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Speaker 1: come that way. Ken's reward would fall into the latter category.

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Speaker 1: I wondered about that name. Who was Ken? And how

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Speaker 1: was this horse his reward? I just assumed Ken was

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Speaker 1: the boss cowboy at the ranch in West Texas where

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Speaker 1: he came from. Yep, West Texas. He was sold through

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Speaker 1: a horse auction in Oklahoma. But old Kin's reward was

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Speaker 1: a bonafide cow pony from West Texas. And it just

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Speaker 1: didn't get any more wild and western than that. Or so,

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Speaker 1: I thought everything was going good. He was taking to

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Speaker 1: his stall and his new digs, you know, fairly well.

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Speaker 1: He was leading around the lot like a champ, coming

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Speaker 1: up to me whenever I called him and shook the

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Speaker 1: feed bucket, and had yet to display anything other than

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Speaker 1: acknowledging my right to live alongside him as he he

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Speaker 1: ate the feed from my bucket. I might as well

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Speaker 1: go ahead and saddle this rascal up. By the time

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Speaker 1: Dad comes back through to check on me this evening,

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Speaker 1: I'll have a rut walked around that pasture edge, and

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Speaker 1: this horse will do my bidding as well as a

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Speaker 1: Lavador retriever. Dad's going to be so proud of me.

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Speaker 1: I led Ken over to the fence and I tied

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Speaker 1: his halter off. I grabbed a headstall and placed the

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Speaker 1: bit in his mouth without much trouble, and I saddled

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Speaker 1: him up with a relative ease. This cat had gotten

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Speaker 1: the memo. I don't know what had taken place out

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Speaker 1: in West Texas, but in South Arkansas, the new sheriff

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Speaker 1: in town was yours, truly, and I was running this show.

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Speaker 1: I sence that front gird up tight as a fiddle string.

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Speaker 1: I knew it would loosen up, you know, after we

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Speaker 1: made a few laps around the pasture. But I wanted

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Speaker 1: a good tight seat when this started, and I didn't

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Speaker 1: want to have to slow down his workout once it

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Speaker 1: did to retighten that saddle. I was working against the clock.

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Speaker 1: By the time Dad came through, I was going to

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Speaker 1: have him retrieving ducks and making biscuits. There had been

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Speaker 1: no issues during any of the saddling. His ears, his

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Speaker 1: eyes were they were just as relaxed as they had

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Speaker 1: been while he was eating or when I was brushing

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Speaker 1: him down. It was just another day. I'm thinking, my

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Speaker 1: dad stole this horse from that sail barn because whoever

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Speaker 1: had him had seriously missjudged this kabayo's value. My left

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Speaker 1: foot went in the stirrup and I swung my right

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Speaker 1: leg over and the moment myle behind hit the saddle,

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Speaker 1: I felt him suck in a big belly full of air.

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Speaker 1: I leaned forward. I was talking to him while I

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Speaker 1: patted him on the neck, just reassuring him that all

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Speaker 1: was good and that we were going to be pals.

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Speaker 1: I reached down and untied his lead rope from that

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Speaker 1: fence and I dabed it around the saddle horn. Now

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Speaker 1: I gave him just a little left hand rein and

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Speaker 1: he turned sharp as a cutting horse. Spied the gate

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Speaker 1: out open just before saddled him up, and I assume

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Speaker 1: had a flashback to his rodeo days. His eyes rolled

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Speaker 1: back in his head. He pinned his ears back, dropped

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Speaker 1: his head, and pitched me over the fence I had

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Speaker 1: him tied to like he had just flicked a cigarette

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Speaker 1: butt out of the truck window. All the air left

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Speaker 1: in one big grunt as gravity took hold of me

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Speaker 1: between the gate and the fence post. I was laying

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Speaker 1: flat on my back, holding the reins in my right

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Speaker 1: hand and looking back over the top of my head

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Speaker 1: at kend Reward, who was just chilling looking back at me.

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Speaker 1: I sat up, and I looked around. Nobody saw that

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Speaker 1: except for me and this horse, and I wasn't gonna

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Speaker 1: tell nobody, and he didn't know anyone but me, so

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Speaker 1: having never turned the reins loose, I climbed right back

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Speaker 1: on top of him, and he shot out of that

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Speaker 1: barn lot like a cannon ball, bucking and crow hopping,

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Speaker 1: after running about forty yards. Now, I'd like to say

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Speaker 1: that I rode him during all that, but truth being known,

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Speaker 1: I was stuck in the ground like a yard dart.

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Speaker 1: After about the first thirty yards, I wiped the dirt

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Speaker 1: off my face, and as best I could, I walked

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Speaker 1: over to kens re Ward, who by now was just

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Speaker 1: standing there amongst a tangled set of reins and a

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Speaker 1: dangling lead rope. He just chilling like nothing had taken place.

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Speaker 1: I walked right up to him. He never flinched, he

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Speaker 1: just looked at me. Now, nothing on me hurt at

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Speaker 1: the moment, and it had been somewhat to my advantage

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Speaker 1: that he had stopped where he did. The ground was

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Speaker 1: a little soft there. It was a little low spot

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Speaker 1: about twenty yards or so above where that pond started,

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Speaker 1: a kind of a little seap where it was always soft,

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Speaker 1: even in the summertime. I knew what I was gonna do.

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Speaker 1: I fixedly get right back on this joker, and we're

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Speaker 1: gonna walk around in this soft ground till we dig

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Speaker 1: a hole of china. He gonna have to work double

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Speaker 1: hard to buck and cut up in this soft ground,

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Speaker 1: sinking up to his pastorns with about every step. And

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Speaker 1: after ten minutes or so, I figured, I'll have his

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Speaker 1: attention to the point where he'll recognize who's running this show.

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Speaker 1: And that's just what I did. I climbed right back

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Speaker 1: on top of him, and he went right back to

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Speaker 1: bucking like he had a license to fly. The soft

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Speaker 1: ground worked great, but only to break my father. He

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Speaker 1: didn't seem to be having a lot of issues with it.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of bucket, I was having a little trouble understanding

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Speaker 1: the issue that old Ken was having with Ken's reward

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Speaker 1: in the bucking category. From where I was occasionally momentarily sitting,

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Speaker 1: I thought he was doing really, really well. He threw

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Speaker 1: me all four times before he quit bucking, and I

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Speaker 1: just kept putting him in that low spot, making figure

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Speaker 1: hs back and forth left and right. We were both

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Speaker 1: leathered up pretty good. Finally I had the upper hand.

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Speaker 1: It had been a rough go, but I had it

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Speaker 1: going my way. I wrote him back to the barn

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Speaker 1: and was taking off his saddle when Dad walked up.

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Speaker 1: I told him everything that had happened. He said, Son,

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Speaker 1: you need to act right, stick an act right stick Yep,

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Speaker 1: you need a little stick. Then when he does that

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Speaker 1: bucket again and he will, you give him one in

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Speaker 1: the top of the head and show him move's running

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Speaker 1: the show. Ah, the caveman approach. I liked it, so

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Speaker 1: that's what I did. That evening, I went down to

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Speaker 1: my brother Tim's house and borrowed a tea ball bat

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Speaker 1: from one of my nephews, and the next morning, right

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Speaker 1: after daylight, I was saddling up Ken's reward for the

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Speaker 1: final installment of his lesson. It was going to be

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Speaker 1: his semester test and would determine his future. On the

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Speaker 1: ponderosa bat in my right hand and left foot and stirrup.

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Speaker 1: I swung my right leg over and settled in the saddle.

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Speaker 1: I gave him just the nudge with my heels and

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Speaker 1: it was the Calgary Stampede all over again. I was

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Speaker 1: struggling to stay in the saddle, and he was doing

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Speaker 1: everything he could to show me the other side of

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Speaker 1: the moon. I swung at him with a bat and

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Speaker 1: hit his right ear. He grabbed a gear, and neither

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Speaker 1: of us knew he had, and I swear Larry Mayhan

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Speaker 1: would have bailed off on him. Don't know who Larry

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Speaker 1: Mayhon is. Look him up, But Larry wasn't sitting straddled

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Speaker 1: this killer. I was, and doing all the math I

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Speaker 1: could muster in that time. I calculated that I would

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Speaker 1: be rejoining Terra Firma within the next few seconds if

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Speaker 1: something drastic didn't change. I swung once more for that

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Speaker 1: spot I had picked out between his ears and connected.

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Speaker 1: It sounded like Mickey Mantle had just smashed one over

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Speaker 1: the fence, and Ken's reward fell like a one egg

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Speaker 1: pudding and laid over on the ground. I just stepped

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Speaker 1: off of him, holding the reins in my left hand

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Speaker 1: and my act right sticking my right. He didn't move,

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Speaker 1: and I just stood there, wondering how I was gonna

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Speaker 1: tell my dad had just killed the horse he had

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Speaker 1: bought from me the day before. Then Old Ken blinked

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Speaker 1: his eyes and stood up, and as he was standing up,

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Speaker 1: I swung my left leg over him, and when he

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Speaker 1: was upright, I was sitting in that saddle just like

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Speaker 1: I had never left. I nudged him with my heels,

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Speaker 1: and he walked like a gentleman in every direction I

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Speaker 1: rained him to go. He was a different horse. The

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Speaker 1: act right stick had worked. I rode him the rest

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Speaker 1: of the day, off and on, and every time was

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Speaker 1: like he had seen the light, and that bucking was

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Speaker 1: an undesirable quality and one that I appreciate. He not continue.

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Speaker 1: He was a changed horse, or was he? I was

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Speaker 1: feeling confident in my horse trading the bilding, so having

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Speaker 1: just fixed him, I thought I might stretch him out

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Speaker 1: on the pasture and see how fast we could make

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Speaker 1: the loop around the fence. I gave him some slack

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Speaker 1: in the reins, nudged him with my heels, and that's

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Speaker 1: all it took. He came out of that lot like

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Speaker 1: a bottle rocket, hugging the edge of the pasture like

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Speaker 1: we were in the Kentucky Derby. Down one stretch of

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Speaker 1: the fence line some low hanging limbs stuck out in

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Speaker 1: the pasture. I light rained him to the inside to

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Speaker 1: go around him, and he slowly moved over like a

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Speaker 1: seasoned vet right up to the point of contact, and

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Speaker 1: all at once he dodged right under them and wrecked

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Speaker 1: me out of that saddle before I could even think

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Speaker 1: about what was happening. We didn't keep him. He had

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Speaker 1: to go before he killed me. But I figured out

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Speaker 1: his name. It finally dawned on me that they must

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Speaker 1: have named that horse as he was leaving that ranch

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Speaker 1: and headed to the horse sail because Brin's reward was

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Speaker 1: living long enough to see him in a horse trailer

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Speaker 1: headed back to the sailbarn. And that's just how that happened.

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Speaker 1: What's in a name? Naming animals? How do we come

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Speaker 1: up with them? Now? I don't mean like scientific names.

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Speaker 1: I know how that's done. And if you don't prepare

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Speaker 1: to be bored for the next twenty seconds of your

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Speaker 1: life that you will never get back while I explain it,

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Speaker 1: But here it is. Scientists use a two name system

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Speaker 1: called a binomial naming system. Scientists name animals and plants

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Speaker 1: using the system that describes the genus and species of

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Speaker 1: the organism. The first word is the genus and the

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Speaker 1: second is the species. The first word is capitalized and

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Speaker 1: the second is not. For the love of humanity almost

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Speaker 1: jumps out the wind of reading that. I promise not

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Speaker 1: to try to make you think anymore today. What I'm

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Speaker 1: talking about are the names we give dogs, horses and

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Speaker 1: the like. And where did the historical names that we've

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Speaker 1: heard of come from? Remember that movie about Seabiscuit, the

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Speaker 1: fastest thing on horseshoes back in nineteen thirty eight, beating

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Speaker 1: a horse called war Admiral, who up to that point

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Speaker 1: had won't everything but the World Series and the Super Bowl.

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Speaker 1: And his name was war Admiral. I name you'd associate

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Speaker 1: with power and greatness. But Sea Biscuit. How did they

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Speaker 1: settle on that? Sea Biscuit's dad was named hard Attack.

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Speaker 1: That's a type of cracker from back in the day.

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Speaker 1: His grandpa was named Man of War. Now, how did

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Speaker 1: that happen? How did that lineage go from intimidating toughness

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Speaker 1: to food you can eat with one hand and goes

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Speaker 1: in soup? I wish I could tell you, but see

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Speaker 1: in the movie, I was always distracted by that silly name.

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Speaker 1: I'll give them their dues, though, because here it is

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Speaker 1: nearly one hundred years later and we're still talking about

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Speaker 1: that horse and his funny name. So what's in a name?

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Speaker 1: I've had dog's name gold Mine, Luke, Tom, Peanut, Sambo, Anna, Whaler,

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Speaker 1: Tip Ranger, just to name a few. Some of them

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Speaker 1: you've heard me mention on here in other places. But

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Speaker 1: the name, what's in a name? The first famous movie

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Speaker 1: dog was Rin ten ten. He was a rescued German

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Speaker 1: shepherd from the battlefield of World War One in France,

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Speaker 1: came back to the US starred in silent movies. Now,

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Speaker 1: that name is highly original and one that I haven't

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Speaker 1: heard of outside of that particular dog. But you can't

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Speaker 1: mention famous dogs of TV and film without Lassie. The

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Speaker 1: name Lassie alone is a descriptor from Scotland that literally

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Speaker 1: means girl. Lassie was a rough Collie breed of dog,

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Speaker 1: and she had nearly a dozen feature length films and

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Speaker 1: a TV series that ran from nineteen fifty four to

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three. She saved the day more than once

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Speaker 1: by being able to communicate the misadventures of Little Timmy,

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Speaker 1: who led a color lamity field life not unlike my own.

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Speaker 1: He was either falling in the old well or getting

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Speaker 1: stuck in a mind cave in, or caught up in

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Speaker 1: some situation that required a dog to use everything from

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Speaker 1: an illumined welder to quantum physics to save that little

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Speaker 1: idiot whose sole purpose in life seemed to be to

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Speaker 1: worry his mama slapped to death. Pretty good for an

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Speaker 1: old gal, except she wasn't a girl. In every TV

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Speaker 1: showing movie, Lastie was played by male Collie every time

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Speaker 1: makes sense, of course, not why would it, But it

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Speaker 1: just goes back to wondering if names are really that important.

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Speaker 1: I and both of my brothers go by our middle names,

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Speaker 1: not our first names, like the federal government and your

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Speaker 1: health insurance intended. No, that would have been too easy.

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Speaker 1: My mother decided to throw that little extra challenge into

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Speaker 1: the mix, so you wouldn't hear my mama hollering Wilton, Richard, Tracy.

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Speaker 1: When it was time to eat, it was Tim, Chuck,

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Speaker 1: and Brent. I don't ask me why. For the reason

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Speaker 1: behind that has been lost to time. I will say this,

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Speaker 1: when others found out my first name was Tracy, the

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Speaker 1: boxing lessons that closely followed served me well in my

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Speaker 1: law enforcement career years later. I bet no one tried

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Speaker 1: that with Lassie anyway. The names we use, at least

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Speaker 1: in my case, always have some roots and a feeling

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Speaker 1: or an observation for about that particular animal. Buck the horse,

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Speaker 1: not the mountain cur Pretty simple. Buck is short for buckskin,

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Speaker 1: the color of the horse, and buck the mountain cur

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Speaker 1: not the horse, was buckskin color too, So Dad named

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Speaker 1: him Buck. I know, very original, right, Whaling my coon

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Speaker 1: now was named when I got him, and that name,

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Speaker 1: among a few other little factors, was the reason I

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Speaker 1: brought him home. So there is a traction and familiarity

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Speaker 1: with names, something that connects and helps us identify that

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Speaker 1: individual or family. Now, when I was guiding for a living,

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Speaker 1: it was November and I was standing in knee deep

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Speaker 1: water in flooded green timber. I was leaning against a tree,

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Speaker 1: and I was trying to decide on a name from

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Speaker 1: my son, who would be born the next March. What

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Speaker 1: should I name him? What would a duck guide name

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Speaker 1: his son? What would a duck hunter name his baby boy?

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Speaker 1: Drake Drake Hunter? That's it. I was so proud of myself.

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Speaker 1: It was perfect. I had one of the best mornings

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Speaker 1: I'd ever had in the timber, calling in ducks by

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Speaker 1: the droves, and my whole party limiting out on green

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Speaker 1: heads before the sun had gotten above the trees. It

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Speaker 1: was a perfect day. Six limits of Drake Mallard's and

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Speaker 1: I had, without much effort, chosen the perfect name for

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Speaker 1: a duck guide's son. We called him by his meddle name,

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Speaker 1: always have no need to let him coast through life

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Speaker 1: without a few challenges. Well, I know I'm going all

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Speaker 1: over the place with this name and thing. But how people, animals,

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Speaker 1: and places get names has always intrigued me. But maybe

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Speaker 1: for the wrong reasons. It's really not the name, but

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Speaker 1: what that entity does that exemplifies what people think of

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00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:33,040
Speaker 1: and associate with that name. A name doesn't make a person.

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Speaker 1: The person makes a name. Benedict Arnold George Washington two

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00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:46,280
Speaker 1: names from the same time period that evoke contrasting emotions.

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Speaker 1: Want a traitor, the other a hero. Names don't matter,

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Speaker 1: it's what you do with it that does. And that's

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Speaker 1: your challenge this week. Make a name for yourself and

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Speaker 1: your family a good one, because good or bad folks

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Speaker 1: might still be talking about you one hundred years from now.

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Speaker 1: Thank y'all for listening, and until next week. This is

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Speaker 1: Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful