The Return of Skippy

By James Lockhart

It’s been a long time since I’ve been excited about getting a horse.  Mainly because for the last decade or so all of the horses we’ve bought have been for my kids. Don’t get me wrong we’ve got some really outstanding horses in our barn, maybe the best we’ve ever owned. But, if I’m honest about it, none of them are mine. This story starts about fifteen years ago, and I can remember every detail. 

It had to be in 2008 or 2009, it was a really cold Sunday morning. I went to church and as I was walking in I ran into Jim Scarbrough. I told him I was wanting a really good looking young horse that we could rope or run barrels on. I told him I don’t like real tall horses. Jim smiled and said come out to the house after church, “I’ve got a good five year old.” 

For those of you that don’t know who Jim Scarbrough is, he’s in the Oklahoma horse racing hall of fame. He also worked for the AQHA journal for several years, he interviewed Ben Johnson, John Wayne and many others. Jim Scarbrough didn’t own junky horses. Needless to say I was excited that Jim said he’d sell me one of his horses. 

I’ll never forget that day. The wind was blowing, the ground was frozen and I was shivering as we walked out to Jim’s barn. He led a good looking sorrel gelding out of the stall and saddled him up in the alley. The horse was kind of short necked and really stocky built, perfect for what I was wanting. He stood exactly 14.3 hands at the withers. I couldn’t have created a better looking rope horse if I had a clay mold. 

Jim was in his seventies or late sixties at this time. He stepped up on the gelding, rode him over and opened the gate into his lot. Then he kicked this horse out into a short lope, never mind it was cold and a five year old horse might buck you off. That horse never made a false move. Jim got off and so I got on. It was cold and I loped the gelding two circles around the lot and got off. I asked Jim what he wanted for him. Jim said fifteen hundred. I told him I’d be back Monday after the bank opened and pay him. 

Jim had been trailing the cattle at the salebarn on the gelding he called “Skippy.” He told me once I got to where I could swing a rope on him he ought to be ready to rope on. Jim had never swung a rope on him at all. 

I had calves at my parent’s house back then. So I took Skippy and chased a calf around the arena and swung a rope. It only took about five minutes before he quit being scared of my rope. I will never forget the first calf I ever roped on him, when I threw my rope Skippy dropped his butt and stopped hard- which is what you want a calf roping horse to do. Some horses get scared and want to run off when you throw the rope, the ones that naturally stop, those are the ones you want. Skippy was a natural. 

After a few days of breakaway roping I had him running out of the box after the calves really good. I decided I wanted to knot rope a calf. A breakaway rope pops off the calf’s neck when the calf hits the end of the rope, with a breakaway the horse doesn’t feel a jerk. A knot rope is fixed so the calf hits the end of the rope, then the rope pops off after the calf hits the end of the rope. It’s the first time most horses ever feel the jerk of the calf hitting the end of the rope. 

I specifically remember I had a slower type calf I picked out to knot rope. I took about three swings over the calf’s back, making sure Skippy was in the perfect position when I roped the calf. I roped that little calf, pitched my slack and shifted my weight so it was all in the right stirrup before the calf hit the end of the rope. Skippy stopped really hard, I think my stirrup was almost in the dirt because he dropped so low. The calf hit the end of the rope and Skippy jumped back, giving me a perfect send down the rope. The only bad thing though, I figured out it was expensive to knot rope good little calves on Skippy. That was the last time that little calf ever went through the chute, he went to calf heaven after Skippy stopped so hard. 

The next Sunday at church I told Jim Scarbrough I felt sorry for Skippy. Jim gave me a strange look and said, “why?” I laughed and told Jim, “I’ve told all of my roping buddies he’s the best young horse I’ve ever owned, so he’s got a lot to live up to.” 

Skippy was the grand champion gelding at the LeFlore county horse show that fall. A year or two later my wife’s best friend Beth had a barrel horse that my daughter needed. Her husband wanted a gentle horse to trail ride on. So I traded Skippy for the barrel horse. For the last ten years or so Skippy has been a shown at ranch versatility shows and been the family trail horse. 

This weekend Beth called one day out of the blue and asked if we’d like to have him back. Immediately I said yes. Over the last ten years Jim Scarbrough has passed away, my dad and many more of my friends that knew where Skippy came from and how good he was. Most of those men are also gone now. 

Skippy is my horse once again. He’s almost twenty years old and he’ll last me a long time. There’s been a flood of memories come back this week, my dad turning out calves for me when I roped on him, Jim Scarbrough riding him, elk hunting on him in Colorado. Once again I’ve got a horse of my own and I couldn’t be happier. Skippy is coming home. 

James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.