It was about 9:00 am and I was riding a three-year-old horse I had started a few weeks back. He was coming along like a Labrador puppy, happy to please and learning every day. Experienced riders know these are the ones you need to watch the most because you get careless, and youthful curiosity can overcome better judgement.

And that would be where I was when that horse and I dropped off the bank into a small mountain stream and started to cross with some dudes I was shepherding. I had taken them all fishing, and I had a mule with me packing the fishing gear and lunch. My assistant had stayed in camp because one of the dudes was a good hand and he was helping me.

We were crossing the stream to move downstream to a better place to fish and there was an open meadow where I could graze the horses and set up lunch. I had leaned my fishing pole against a tree to help the riders get organized and when I got on, I just rode by and picked it up. That meant I was now in the middle of that stream with my fishing pole, and the mule on a lead rope.

One of the dudes yelled “Have you ever caught a fish off a horse?”

I had tried some foolish things horseback but never fishing! I gave it about 2 seconds of careful deliberation and thought why not?

My horse was sound (wasn’t he), the group was all across the stream and the mule I had on a lead rope was solid. This mule had carried two trash cans full of rattling ice cubes and beer and when all the shaking made a couple of the cans of beer blow up in the trash can he never turned a hair.

I put the mules lead rope under my right leg and started pulling line off the fishing reel. I had a passable fly rod with a Royal coachman attached and I did a few casts and dropped the fly in a pool along the bank. The coachman settled and the current took it under an overhanging branch. There was that telltale riffle in the water and a 12 inch Rainbow took the fly and headed for home. When I set the hook, he exploded and came out of the water about 20 feet from my horse and I.

At this point you may think that spooked my horse, but not so much as a flinch. I had been ready in case this went badly but now it seemed as if all I needed to do was get that fish to the bank and look like a fishing hero.

IF, I had done that it might have worked out, but being a young cowboy with dubious analytical skills, I decided to pull the fish up into the saddle with me.

As the fish got closer, my horse turned his head sideways and snorted out both nostrils, both ears were forward and he got a bow in his neck. He was still standing still so I pulled the fish out of the water.

The mule had put his head down to get a drink and the lead rope was in the water behind my horse’s tail! The horse decided it was time to leave and he turned left and headed upstream. As he turned the lead rope came up under his tail and he clamped down on that rope and just stopped moving – the eye of the hurricane as it were.

First I had dropped the fish and it ran under the horse attached to the fishing line and jumped out of the water.

The mule looked this over and decided he needed to be a little farther from the action and he just backed up a foot or two. That pulled the lead rope out from under my leg and it dragged along under my horses tail.

All of that created a dramatic change in my “gentle“ horse. The cute Labrador puppy became 1200 pounds of coiled steel rodeo bronc ready to prove how athletic he was.

His first jump was not high but it was fast and he covered a lot of river bed. He gathered himself up and his next move was straight up, and I swear he came down one leg at a time jarring every tooth in my head. But the river bed footing was loose rocks and he went down in the front burying his face on the water.

This gave me time to get seated again and pull his head around to get all that nonsense stopped.

I looked around and realized people were so entertained they were getting off their horses to bend over and laugh. The mule was just standing there looking disapproving, and the fish was gone.

But – I still had my fishing pole in my hand.

So you might ask somebody someday “Can you catch fish off a horse?”

And, yes you can, but it takes a horse that’s used to nonsense and I recommend you leave the mule with somebody else.