Not long after, the two of them went home and were able to secure a job managing a ranch not far from where they grew up, and about that same time, Josh was born. Three years later, with some of the money they had saved from their rodeo days, along with some of the savings from their ranch job, a little more from their families, and a loan from the bank, they had enough money to buy the ranch they currently owned.

As much work as things had been that spring for Henry and Annie, for the most part everything had actually been going along smoothly. That was, until the morning of branding. It was mid April and as was his habit, Henry got up before dawn on branding day, always a Saturday, and headed out about daybreak to gather the cow-calf pairs that he had moved to the nearest pasture a couple days before. He had a number of neighbors coming around 7:00 a.m. to help with branding of the new calves, and he wanted to have the cattle ready and in the large catch pen before the neighbors got there, so as not to waste anybody’s time unnecessarily.

Normally, the men would do the majority of the roping and dragging the calves to the fire, mounted on experienced ranch horses who weren’t bothered by swinging ropes or burning hide, while other men and some of the younger boys (the ones around Josh’s age) would hold the calves down once they got to the fire. The women would take care of vaccinating the calves, while at the same time someone would bring an iron from the fire and brand the calf with the McBride’s quarter circle MC brand on the calf’s left hip. Then the calf would be untied and turned loose to run bawling back to its mother that was standing nearby.

While Henry was out gathering the pairs, Annie and Josh would be back in the catch pen, digging a fire pit, getting the fire started, and getting some fresh coffee brewed for the folks who would be showing up. While Annie always took charge of the ground crew—keeping the vaccinations in order, checking ear tags, keeping notes on which calves had gotten what—she also enjoyed doing a little roping herself. Normally she waited until about half the calves had been branded before trying her hand. Henry always saddled her horse when he saddled his so all she had to do was grab her rope, slip the bridle on her horse and join in.

He would also tie her rope to her saddle so she wouldn’t have to go hunting it up before she rode. But on this day, because he had slept a little later than he should have, he ran out of time that morning and left her rope in its bag hanging on the tack room wall. So later that morning, before Annie could join in on the roping, she needed to make the trip to the tack room to retrieve it.