I drove to McAlester, Oklahoma to meet Blair Burk the other day. We met in the parking lot at the McAlester Union Stockyards. I had an old horse for some friends of his. He’d given my niece an old horse one time, so it was kind of payback in a way. Blair’s a good hearted guy, I’ve known him and his family for thirty years.
When Blair got out of his truck he had a purple string in his hand. He said give this to Jakob. Cody Ohl was at the house the other day and left it in the arena, so I brought it with me for Jakob.
One time I was at the Burk’s house in Durant roping with them. His dad Barry was hot shoting the calves in the chute and Blair got on to him for using the hot shot. I’ll never forget what Blair said, “I wouldn’t want to be a roping calf either, I don’t blame them for not wanting to load in the chute.” For someone that ropes as good as Blair I’ve always thought that was funny. I bet he’s ran thousands of practice calves in that arena.
Many years ago I was at the Burk’s selling a horse I think. I told Barry I needed an old crippled horse for my niece. She was about five or six years old. I wanted a horse that wouldn’t get her hurt. Barry said he had just the horse. It was AQHA world champion Zans Misty Skip. Jeff Chapman rode that horse at the NFR several years earlier. That horse was trained by Bobby Lewis. Barry said Zans Misty Skip was the only two year old he had ever offered twenty thousand for. When he got pretty old Zan got a messed up knee so all he could do was walk and kind of trot. He was super broke in the face and a perfect teacher for a little girl.
Blair and I got visiting in the parking lot about the annual junior roping his dad started and now Blair continues. Blair is wanting to expand and sort of have a national competition with a series of regional finals, then a national championship. He said he sort of wants it to be like the college basketball playoffs.
Blair started naming off some of the sponsors he’s talked to and I was impressed. Saddles, trailers, tack, clothes and horse care stuff. He knows a lot of people in the rodeo industry. He said he wanted to keep the entry fees somewhat cheaper. There’s a lot of people that just can’t afford to haul their kids to ropings anymore because of all the expenses.
There’s always a good story when I get around other guys my age that rodeoed back when we were younger. Blair rolled into the McAlester stockyards with a dodge dually, a big Capri camper and a bumper pull trailer. That old school rig sure brought back a lot of memories. I’ve bet I laughed for two days thinking of all the stuff we got into back when I was younger and my knees didn’t hurt….
James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.
Get Local News!
