Maddy Butcher writes:
Kent Reeves at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
My friend, Kent Reeves, has generously shared his poem, The Dink, to open my upcoming book, Horse Head: Brain Science & Other Insights. The book, with input from Dr. Steve Peters on the neuroscience topics, is due out this spring. It also features essays and reviews of best practices.
Reeves is a multi-talented Californian who works with ranchers on conservation and regenerative agricultural projects. He’s a talented cowboy, poet, photographer, and wildlife range ecologist. He has organized and moderated the semi-annual Stockmanship Symposium for the Society for Range Management Annual Meeting, and guides ranchers and land trusts in California on grazing science through the Rancher to Rancher Network.
You can enjoy this sample of his poetry here.
Thanks, Kent!
The Dink
There’s horses that buck sunfish and pitch.
They’re movin’ so much you can’t scratch an itch.
There’s horses that spin and savvy the cow.
A puncher could ride ‘em without knowin’ how.
There’s horses that help you weather a storm,
But then there’s the dink that don’t fit the norm.
He’ll bugger at ant farts and flea sneezes, too.
Why, he ain’t even slicker broke at age twenty-two.
Reeves leads a pack string
He trips and he stumbles, then falls on his face,
Before he steps out and takes a single pace.
You know that he’s lazy, yes lazy indeed,
Because he’s the last one to come in for feed.
You wonder about him and all of his like
For you’d be better mounted on a little old bike.
You curse and you swear, but he pays you no heed.
“Good God,” you wonder, “who trained this steed?”
Then while you’re a ridin’, that heavy fog clears.
He’s had many a rider these past twenty years.
Then it’s all obvious while sittin’ your kack,
It’s just his way of gittin’ the dinks off his back.
Kent A. Reeves