Horseplay? Nah, horsework

They gallop to the office, the grulla and the buckskin, the red roan and the bay. Their co-workers are rawhided, resin-roped buckaroos, outfitted in leather chaps with braided romal reins, Sweetwater bits and saddles as smooth as an old glove. About 85 cow ponies and their partners will converge from ranches all over the West for the 12th annual Nevada All-Around Working Cowhorse Championship Friday through Sunday in Winnemucca, Nev., about three hours from Reno. The gathering, which draws as many as 600 spectators each day, evokes a time when cowboys corralled their neighbors’ calves to help brand them, or simply to engage in a little horseplay to see whose pony had the most cow savvy. Then, as now, some horses seemed to have a sixth sense, as Buster Welch of King Ranch would say, for anticipating a cow’s next move. It’s a skill that lives on the frontier of the senses. Organizer Liz Younger says the event, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, was the brainchild of a “couple of buckaroos from Elko” who wanted to preserve the traditions and talents of the working ranch horse. Three of the four classes involve working stock: cutting a calf without ruffling the herd, driving a lone calf down a long fence at a gallop, roping a calf to prepare him for branding. The fourth event -- reining -- shows off precision patterns including figure eights, flying lead changes, sliding stops and 360-degree spins. Events begin 8 a.m. each day at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds. Go to www.youngeragency.com or call (775) 329-4200.

-- Bobbie Lieberman