The Bust Out happens without preamble. After 30 minutes of pageantry—a troupe of angelic girls on horseback swinging flags, a prison drill team sweeping and pinwheeling their horses down the length of the arena, the national anthem, and an extended prayer for protection—the polished, somewhat professional façade of the Angola Rodeo crumbles into mayhem.

Pro

Randy Wayne White
When my physician told me, “The truth is, nicotine is a great drug,” I thought he was nuts.

The man was a chief resident at John Hopkins Hospital, for heaven’s sake. But he had been the first to effectively medicate the back pain I had suffered for a decade, so he had my attention.

As food, board, and vet bills become increasingly difficult to justify in hard economic times, many families face the difficult prospect of separating from their horses. And some owners must weigh the grim options of euthanasia, slaughter, or release (often illegal). Horse rescues, like Colorado Horse Rescue (chr.org), are filling up with starving and neglected animals.

What do jurisprudence, tabloid journalism, and the Watergate- era informant known as Deep Throat have to do with each other? Maybe better to ask what they have to do with anything cowboy. But I believe that a stroll down journalism’s (and history’s) back roads reveals something about our nation’s need for cowboy forthrightness and plain-spokenness. And cowboy ethics.