I recently sat down with Rex Trailer to ask him some questions of his
childhood years.
I'll try to be as accurate as possible here, as I had only pen and paper and
quickly jotted down notes.
So here goes:
Q. You grew up in Texas, as I understand it. Where abouts, Dallas?
A. No, I grew up near Ft.Worth.
Q. What are your earliest childhood memories? Are they of a cowboy
theme?
A. Oh yes, working on my grandfather's ranch. I spent a good deal of time
learning about ranch life and chores, like cleaning out the stables. I did
a lot of things along that line before I got into learning roping and things
like that. I did a lot of shoveling. - Shoveling a lot.... of,..well,......you know
WHAT!
Q. How old were you when you got your first horse?
A. Oh I don't know, 4 or 5 I guess. I know I had to be near a corral fence
just so I could get up on him! I rode him bareback. But I always had
horses. My grandfather gave me that one.
Q. Do you remember his name?
A. (Rex pauses to think here and then he spits out the answer:) "Bamboo!"
When Rex got a little older he spent much more time on that ranch. The
hired hands were real rodeo cowboys anxious to teach young Rex different
things. Rex recalled that one taught him trick roping. Another taught him how
to handle a bull whip and another taught him how to play the guitar.
Rex:"All those cowboys were good at what they taught me, but after I
learned each(skill), I was the only one of the bunch who could do all three!"
Rex grew up to be a rodeo star, and self-taught to boot!
Those hired hands wanted him to learn everything, but Rex took his
grandfather's advice of not to "ride the rough stock" (meaning the bulls and
longhorns). "All you'll end up with is broken bones!"
