A Tribute To Lane Frost - (1963 - 1989 World Champion Bullrider


  The Earth's A Fickle Mama

                           
 

Lane Frost and Red Rock.
Lane Frost and Red Rock



Lane Frost.
Lane Frost

 

Lane Frost Bullriding.
           Lane Frost bullriding

Oh, the earth's a fickle mama, like two-thousand pounds of Brahma,
that ya ride eight-seconds, 'fore she throws ya down...
when the one,  who bore and nursed ya, turns her back and starts t' curse ya,
and she tramples ya six-feet beneath the ground.

As his lifeblood pools inside him, there is no one to confide in--
that he wished he'd never done that fateful ride.
But the bull that's fin'lly got him, and to death's dark door has brought him's
helped him score another solid eighty-five.

Well, each cowboy's merely mortal, and 'll someday reach that portal,
when the summer's done and autumn's fin'lly gone,
when those cheeks of sunburned leather lie so still upon the heather,
and a darkened world awaits a distant sun.

When that giant yolk sinks middle of the west-horizon's griddle,
and a crimson blaze ignites the prairie sod,
when the sky of blue and azure falls, as ketchup, on the pasture,
our world darkens, but it's breakfast time with God.

Though that cowboy's linen-shrouded and the world's all dark and clouded,
when the undertaker gives his head the nod,
that ol' cowboy's horse is revvin' as it launches him t' heaven,
where he's welcomed as a breakfast guest with God.

Yup, he'll sit down at God's table with John Wayne and Betty Grable,
and then God'll raise his glass, and he will say,
"I could tell, right from the start, My Name was branded on your heart.
Welcome home, my son, you're fin'lly here to stay."

Well, the clocks upon our planet were designed for those who man it,
and they stop dead in a hundred years or so,
but that moment's time in Heaven, was, in Lane's years, twenty-seven,
and that hand's not dead.  He's simply on the go.

When that giant yolk sinks middle of the west-horizon's griddle,
and a crimson blaze ignites the prairie sod,
when the sky of blue and azure falls, as ketchup, on the pasture,
our world darkens, but it's breakfast time with God.

© 1997, Michael S. Robinson

 

 

   

Lane Frost - World Champion Bull Rider
1963-1989

   

             Lane Frost was born on October 12, 1963 in LaJunta, Colorado, but moved to Lane, OK in 1977. He showed an interest in rodeo at the age of three, and began riding calves when he was 10. He was taught the art of riding by his father along with his good friend, Freckles Brown (World Champion Bull Rider). At 19, he was inducted into the Professional Rodeo Cowboy's Association (PRCA). That year he was named "Rookie-of-the-Year" runner-up. In 1985, he married  Kelly Kyle, a barrel racer from Texas. He shared the world championship title with friend and fellow bull rider, Tuff Hedeman, in 1986. One year later, at the age of 24, Lane Frost was named "World Champion Bull Rider".

              When Lane Frost met the unridden Red Rock in a seven-match series in 1988, the cowboy beat the bull 4-3. (Frost is pictured with Red Rock in the upper left side.) Before that, Red Rock had thrown 309 consecutive bull riders. On July 30, 1989,  Lane Frost was killed by the bull Taking Care of Business at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. He was only 25 years old. A year later, Lane was inducted into the PRCA Hall of Fame. At 26, he was the youngest person ever to be selected. He is buried next to his hero and mentor Freckles Brown  in Hugo, Oklahoma.


 



 

          Over the last decade, Michael "Boots" Robinson has become a recognized name in cowboy poetry MIchael "Boots " Robinson photo.and western/folk/country music.  Dubbed by contemporaries as "The Wordsworth of Cowboy Poetry," his meticulous attention to rhyme and meter make him great  listening and reading. Not only are the rhyme schemes and meter in all of his poems flawless, he crosses the line from first rate verse to first rate poetry with  his vivid imagery.

       His family  ranched and farmed a hundred thousand acres on the Colorado Plateau; and  Michael helped with roundups, dehorning calves and cutting them among other tasks.   During his college years, Michael shoed and traded horses to make ends meet. He is the father of five "kids," aged 25 to 35, and grandfather to seven; and they top his list of priorities. 

        
He graduated with a triple bachelors degree in Advertising, Communications, and Journalism; and he completed a year of graduate studies in Journalism.    He started and then conducted a  medical marketing company.  After retirement, he returned to horses, music, and poetry. Michael has written over 500 poems and songs, and has performed over 800 solo shows. He's appeared at gatherings throughout the U.S. and Canada, and on Seabourne and Eastern and Orient Cruises Lines, and is a three-time winner in the Western Legends Roundup.
           
              He was recently named for the the third time,  to the Utah Arts Council's "Performing Arts Tour" and will be doing a show called "Sidekicks," with two other Utah, top cowboy poets.  This show is subsidized by a State/community partnership, to bring quality entertainment to smaller communities. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation recently announced that Michael "Boots" Robinson will be performing in their special Cowboy Poetry broadcast, to be aired nation-wide during March and May, 2005. Michael has authored three books and five CDs. For further information, see his web site: 
www.cowboypoetryandmusic.com
                                                                                 
                                                                                        rawkinhorse@digis.net

The poem appearing on this  webpage may be excerpted, copied, reproduced, used or performed in any form (graphic, electronic   or   mechanical), for any purpose without the  express written permission of Michael "Boots" Robinson.

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