BY STEPHEN BLYI could tell A.C. Buchanan was a dally man. It wasn’t the bow legs, the tan line across his forehead, or the calloused hands. It was, rather, the missing tip of his thumb that gave him away.
Cattlemen out west can be divided between those who tie their ropes hard and fast and those who dally. One group ties the end of their rope to their saddle horn before they ever leave the corral. For instance, when they rope a steer out on the range, in order to doctor it up, all they have to do is toss a loop over the critter and get their pony to shut it down. The steer dashes toward safety, but is brought down hard when he reaches the end of the rope. This way he’s not lost, unless the rope breaks.
