BooksBarbecue
Back Kick the Latch
Chapters (92)
  1. KICK THE LATCH
  2. ONE
  3. SOLID PLASTER
  4. THE OLD MAN
  5. IT WASN’T HIS FAULT
  6. MILK BONES
  7. BICYCLE JENNY
  8. TWO
  9. THE JOCKEY
  10. THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE
  11. BANG!
  12. I HAD MY SPILLS
  13. MY PAINT HORSE
  14. KIND OF FUNNY, A REAL CLOWN, AN ORNERY SON OF A BUCK
  15. THREE
  16. A LITTLE WIND-UP CLOCK
  17. SHORT-IRON
  18. DIRT TRACK, FLAT LAND, RAMSHACKLE BACKSTRETCH
  19. I WOULDN’T BARELY BREAK
  20. NOTHING NICE
  21. KEY TO THE QUARTER POLE
  22. GALLON OF BLOOD
  23. NUTS AND BOLTS
  24. BIG OLD HOLE
  25. I SEEN HIM EVERY DAY
  26. FOUR
  27. PICKLED BOILED EGGS
  28. THANKSGIVING
  29. ENOUGH
  30. CALL YOUR OWNERS, CALL HOME
  31. HAMBURGERS
  32. OUR PERSONAL ATTITUDES
  33. FIVE
  34. I OUTGREW THE POSITION
  35. THEY GET CHILLY
  36. THIS JOCK PACKS, THAT JOCK PACKS
  37. GRANDSTANDING
  38. BLACK SHOE POLISH
  39. SIX
  40. EVERYTHING MYSELF
  41. WASHED, BATHED, GOOD CARE
  42. YOU CHECK IT, YOU SHAKE IT
  43. A THOUSAND POUNDS OF PRESSURE
  44. WE’RE HUNGRY!
  45. STRAIGHT OFF THE GOAT
  46. SEVEN
  47. I KNOW WHAT I KNOW
  48. THEY GET THEIR HEADS JERKED OFF
  49. I THINK YOU’LL BE SAD
  50. BOBBLE, BOBBLE
  51. YOU CAN’T BLAME A MAN
  52. THIS HORSE, THIS RACE
  53. EIGHT
  54. RACETRACKERS
  55. FANCY SUITS, FANCY BOOTS
  56. PAUPER’S HILL
  57. THE OLD LADY
  58. JAKE THE PRINCE
  59. C’MON, CHARLIE!
  60. THE BIG DRINK
  61. WHERE’S THORBY?
  62. MIRACLE PERSON
  63. HE WAS LIVING HIGH
  64. I DIDN’T WANT NO DRAMA
  65. NINE
  66. THE RODEO STUNT
  67. HUNTERS AND JUMPERS
  68. TEN
  69. I WAS GIVEN A CHOICE
  70. THEY’D RATHER HAVE THE PISS
  71. STOP MY WORLD, LADY!
  72. STUPID CAMERAS, BIG LIGHTS
  73. GRAB THAT THING
  74. MILLIONS
  75. IT WAS HARD LIVING
  76. I TRIED TO BE A NORMAL PERSON
  77. THE HORSE TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE
  78. ELEVEN
  79. MISTER BAKER
  80. THIS SUCKER
  81. WITH THE MEN
  82. LA VEDETTE
  83. HER BLACK MOUSTACHE
  84. BLONDE, CUTE, BIG DIMPLES
  85. TWELVE
  86. ONAKONA
  87. BAD WEATHER OR NOT
  88. IT AIN’T LIKE A CAT
  89. PERENNIALS
  90. REMEMBER THIS?
  91. A PARTICULAR LANGUAGE
  92. AFTERWORD

My parents took us to the racetrack in Jackson on weekends. My dad would go inside to gamble and my mom’d wait outside with my sister and me. We’d lean on the rail and watch them run.

THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE

Well what do you want for Christmas and what do you want for your birthday and what is it you would like, as a treat?

A horse!

We had no permission, no money, but my sister and I rode our bicycles to all the neighbors’ houses to ask: Do you have any horses for sale or do you know of any place we could keep a horse or do you know anyone who does have a horse for sale and if so how much?

Keith Baxter owned a stable in Dixon City where you could rent a horse by the hour. The first time my mom took me there, Baxter put me on a giant horse named Joe. I said, I want to ride that one instead — and I pointed at a little horse off by himself in the corral. Baxter said, If you can’t ride Joe you sure as heck ain’t gonna ride Rowdy.

BANG!

Rowdy was a little mustang out of Black River, North Dakota — a paint, brown and white, just beautiful. We had a connection. He was always my pick to ride.

Melvyn Abernathy was a well-known trick rider in Dixon City with a team of palominos. What Melvyn did was drive out to Black River and round up a bunch of wild horses from the range and load them into his trailer. Melvyn brought Rowdy home.

When Melvyn tried to work with the horse, Rowdy kept getting loose — Melvyn’s fences were too short — so he sold him to Keith Baxter. But Rowdy wasn’t popular at Baxter’s either — he unseated everyone who tried to ride him. I fell off plenty of times but I got right back on.

You see the old pictures of the cowboy and the dog — they look like they’re asleep — and the horse is plodding along. Rowdy wasn’t like that. As soon as he thought you weren’t paying attention — bang! you’d be on the ground. He was nervous and quick. He’d spook. He was sensitive. It was his heritage.

I HAD MY SPILLS

He was a small horse, so I didn’t have far to fall. First I rode him in Baxter’s big arena. I’d fall off and get back on and Baxter would be shaking his head. Then one day Baxter said, Okay, you can go down the road now. I’d ride with a group of people from the stable in ditches along the highway. Cars with loud mufflers went by and Rowdy unseated me. Pheasants popped up from the brush and I got unseated.