Apples and Hosses


I started to cowboy just sixteen and raw
On a spread east of the divide
The boss man was as tough as I ever saw
He didn't keep nothin' inside

I knew your pa, he says, a long time ago
He was tough and built for this land
I never saw him quit or even go slow
Might you be this same kind of man ?

Now I'd never thought one way or the other
About what sort of man I was
He says we'll find out this way or another
Just what's underneath that peach fuzz

You see that notch in the mountains right yonder?
There's a painted filly up there
There's a Mustang stud who don't let her wander
I want you to bring her down here

Now I just didn't know no better back then
Took a sack of apples to eat
Headed toward the place he said they had been -
A drizzly day with rain and sleet

When I got to the notch the sun came out bright
And shone on the stud and the paint
Didn't have no plan but I could think all night
To see if I can or I cain't

Well, I leaned on a tree,ate apples all night
And thought 'til my brain got all sore
Then just at dawn I heard a hoss take a bite
They were eatin' them apple cores

I jumped on my hoss, slung the sack on my back
And headed on straight down the hill
Took an apple now and then out of the sack
An' dropped it to give them their fill

I rode in through the gate with the paint and stud
Followed by four mares and two colts
I poured out the apples as fast as I could
Closed the gate and threw all the bolts

Well the bossman was grinnin' from ear to ear
Never saw nothin' that clever
He says your daddy was never even near
As smart as you, nossir never !

Well, I wound up as just another cowpoke
No more or maybe less than you
Sometimes I get drunk and I'm always half broke -
The story 'bout apples is true