Tom Dorrance: A Most Extraordinary Horseman
by Jim Overstreet, copyright 1994, published by permission of the author
Thirty or more unbroke horses milled restlessly in a large corral at Cow Camp, summer headquarters on Montana’s Flying D ranch. Boots Shell, the manager, asked a small, dark-haired horseman what kind of horse he’d to like ride when he roped the broncs. “Something that’s never been handled much would be best,” he said. The other cowboys, who had only met the quiet man the night before listened incredulously. It was the summer of 1964 and Tom Dorrance was already fifty-four years old.
Some of the horses waiting to be ridden were five, six, and seven year olds that for one reason or another had never been handled. Although their breeding was a mixture of good Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse blood, they’d spent most of their lives just eating grass in the big ranch pastures. They were corralled once or twice a year with the riding horses only to be turned out again untouched. Several others had been broken “at,” that is someone had attempted to break them but hadn’t been successful.