Every Bit has a Story

Merrilee has been talking a lot lately, now is the time to
let the bits do the talking. They will tell of their adventures with the bit
maker, maybe a favorite horse, and critique the rider. Sit back and
hear the story told by the bit, essentially it is directly from the horse’s mouth.

Let me introduce myself. I am known as Bit #1 or Richie’s first bit in the Richie Morgan Bit
Collection. I’m excited because at my old age, I have now been invited to a big
party! I’m about one hundred years old. It is a BYOB party at the Cowboy Arts and
Gear Museum in Elko. BYOB here means Bring Your Own Bit, even though I have
seen some of the other BYOB parties too. I’m hoping to see family and old friends
and hear what they have to say, what is their history. We will draw a winner of the
first book off the presses for my steward, Merrilee. She is documenting what life
was like for me and the others while we were working on the Morgan Ranch. It iwill be an important, interesting story of tradition and heritage that needs to be recorded.

My story with the Morgan family began in 1936 when Richie found me in the F.M.
Sterns’ Saddlery in San Jose, California. He was a young man, 16 years old, who
had just left high school. They wouldn’t let him play sports, so he chose to go
to work as a cowboy. I am honored he chose me out of all the stock Mr. Sterns
had. Richie took very good care of me too: I have no bumps or bruises, my silver
is all intact, and I can still be used if someone wants.

At that time, a bit maker named Echevarria worked in the shop there. He and his
friends would come and go as artists are known to do. Richie bought me secondhand
and I can’t remember all the details of my forging. Some people think
Echavarria is my dad, others see that I look like Figueroa. I do know that Richie
gave me a brand new Tietjen mouthpiece. I’m so lucky to have such great artists
help mold me into the best I can be.

At first Morgan and I roamed central and northern California, Nevada, and Oregon
working on different ranches. I saw some pretty good horses; but they had to be
well trained before I met them. Richie had a horse named Freckles that I really
liked. He was a big gray gelding that had a lot of cow sense. We three did
well together out in the fields of the islands of the Sacramento Delta. The ranchers
would haul weanlings on barges to drop them off to eat the green beet tops after
the sugar beet harvests.

My favorite horse-and there were so many good ones-was Litle Eck, a chestnut
gelding. It was in the 50s. He was quick, he saw a cow, he liked working. I still
have a picture of us together. Tuck was another good partner. He was
seventeen hands, thoroughbred style, fast. It was fun to just walk through the
meadows with the reins swinging free. Merrilee, Richie and Marge’s daughter, rode
him too towards the end. I taught her how to treat a horse and bridle with a kind hand. But one sad morning Richie found him laying out in the
field. He had colic and was gone.

The Morgans and I had other great horses like Roanie and John and Peter Brown. It’s
been a good life. I was retired to the Wall of Fame behind Richie’s favorite recliner.
There I would preen as he talked about his adventures as a mid-century Northern
California bridle man. Now I am showcased with other friends inside Merrilee's glass-top display coffee table for all to see and admire. But now I’m telling my stories!