by erictknight | Jul 5, 2016 | Arizona history, autobiography, cattle, comedy, cowboys, creative writing, Date Creek Ranch, Eric Knight, horses, humor, ranching, short story, writing
Back in college I used to do a lot of backpacking with one of my friends. One time he and I were headed out to backpack in the Chiricahua Mountains and as we were pulling our packs out of the car I noticed that he had a milk jug full of water in the back seat. When I...
by erictknight | Jun 11, 2016 | action and adventure, Arizona history, autobiography, cattle, comedy, cowboys, creative writing, Date Creek Ranch, Eric Knight, humor, ranching, Sonora desert, writing
Time for the tale of how I earned a scar worthy of a champion. In the early days, our lone piece of “heavy” equipment on the ranch was on old Ford tractor. I’m guessing that it was of a 1940s vintage, but without going to the trouble of emailing my sister for...
by erictknight | Jun 2, 2016 | action and adventure, Arizona history, autobiography, cattle, comedy, cowboys, Date Creek Ranch, Eric Knight, horses, humor, ranching, writing
I’m not quite sure why I wasn’t riding Cortez, my horse, on that fateful day. I have some vague recollection that she had a limp. I’m not even sure how the decision was made that Dinah should be her replacement either. Maybe it was just the universe having a little...
by erictknight | May 29, 2016 | Arizona history, autobiography, cattle, comedy, cowdog, creative writing, Date Creek Ranch, dogs, Eric Knight, family, humor, ranching, roping, writing
Shortly after I bought Cortez, Mom started taking Kim and me to compete in gymkhanas. And now I’m guessing that you’re wondering what in the heck a gymkhana is. Well, it’s like a rodeo for kids. However, instead of roping or bull riding or any of that dangerous stuff,...
by erictknight | May 25, 2016 | action and adventure, Arizona history, autobiography, cattle, creative writing, Date Creek Ranch, dogs, Eric Knight, family, horses, humor, ranching, roundup, writing
So the first horse I tried out turned out to be a lemon. There was nothing for it but to keep on trying. The right horse just had to be out there. The next horse that arrived at the ranch was a friendly-looking mare. The initial stages of saddling and mounting all...
by erictknight | May 12, 2016 | Arizona history, autobiography, cattle, comedy, creative writing, Date Creek Ranch, dogs, Eric Knight, horses, humor, ranching, Sonora desert, writing
Okay, money in hand, I was ready to buy a horse that didn’t suck! How hard could this be? The first horse we got at the ranch for me to try out looked pretty good. At least he wasn’t swaybacked or 200 years old. I saddled him up and got on. Not once did he try to bite...
