Out Our Way: Spiritual saddle sores

Out our way, the first few hours or days of riding can be pretty painful. I didn’t work the cattle in the winter and seldom rode Doc after November. In late April or early May I would go out and saddle up. Both Doc and I had usually put on some girth over the winter and and I often it took a lot of pulling and kneeing him in the gut to get his cinch secure. The looks he would give me! But then, I found I had trouble getting my foot in the stirrup as my own tummy had spread a bit and got in the way. Even when I finally got my foot in the stirrup, I found I couldn’t swing up so easily —...