b'ARIZONAS BEST SELECTION OF RECOLLECTIONS OF A COWBOY: QUALITY TACK & SADDLES SINCE1996 ! GAMBLING, COWBOY-STYLEBy Jerry Croft Reprinted from Shoot! MagazineTHANK YOUM ost Cowboys like to make a wager, some more than others. A good friend of mine said his dad lost two-thirds of his ranch in a poker game. A lot of property and belongings have been lost on the turnof a card.EVERYONE FOR COMING TO An Arizona puncher had me build him a fancy saddle, but he didnt get to keep it long because of a few cards dealt out on a saddle blanket.Back in 1962, I learned I didnt know how to play poker in the back room of the bar in Wickiup. Those old OUR SPRING CLEARANCE SALE! boys liked to school young bucks on how to get rid of their hard-earned wages. In my opinion, thats how rodeo got started. Some cowboy betting he could out rope or outride a puncher from another outfit.Horse racing with a bunch of Shoshone Indians out of Crowheart showed me a very different side of the WE APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU! sport of kings. They had a big prairie dog town, maybe five or six acres. Everybody put up a dollar andwed have a race from one end to the other. Those Indians would fly through there with absolutely no fear.It wasnt the fastest horse that won, but the one that would make it without a wreck. It took a lot of nerve 169 E Wickenburg Wayor maybe we were just plain dumb. I did win a time or two and was really proud to keep up with thosegreat horsemen.Wickenburg, AZ 85390928-684-6123I spent 28 days on a ship going to Vietnam. Thats where I learned to play seven-card rummy for a penny FEEDa point. Nobody had any money so we played on the cuff. I ended up owing this soldier friend a little overOpen 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. DAILY$300. I figured I would pay him off a little each month. A month or two later, we were in a firefight and I looked over just in time to see the enemy sneaking up behind him. I sent a few ounces of lead that way. DELIVERYMy buddy looked back to see what I had done then looked at me, pointed his finger, and said; Were even. I guess he figured his life was worth a bit over $300.MONDAYS,Things were slow during the winter months on the Baca Grant, so each Saturday night we would go to one of the cow camps and play poker. The wives visited while the cowboys had a big stakes game. I was lucky WEDNESDAYSor maybe Id learned something in Wickiup, but Id usually go home with my pockets full. Sometimes I had as much as $10. After the days on the Babbitt Ranch wagon, wed sit on the floor of some old shack playing & FRIDAYS! HONOR THEa game of stud. One of the boys was losing most of the time. I think it was a joke, but he leaned over and pulled his hog leg from his bedroll. Before you could blink eight more pistols were lying next to our stack of AMERICAN FLAG! coins. Things got a bit serious after that. No one got shot and we started winning once and a while. Kinda ruined a friendly game. If you like to gamble, Im always ready to put up a two-bit piece on something, but if youre really serious, FIRST PLACE TO STOP, BEST PLACE TO SHOP bring your hog leg to back up the odds. LIKE our FACEBOOK PAGE, Dynamite Horseman Supply, and WATCH for our AD!Also WATCH for our AD inARIZONA REAL COUNTRY, THE MAGAZINE and listen for it on 96.3 KSWG RADIO!28232 N. 42nd StreetCave Creek, AZ85331480-585-4073dynamitehorsemansupply.comMonFri: 8am-5pmSat: 8am-3pmSun: ClosedArizonaRealCountry.com April 2021 57'