Bronson K. Springstead, DVM
1936 – 2024
Recently, I lost another friend, one whom so many of us will sorely miss. Unfortunately, this is the burden of old age, but it doesn’t make it any easier to accept. In this case, we lost more than a person, we lost an American icon. “Bronco” was a cowpoke, a veterInarian, storyteller, rodeo rider and a true son of the “purple sage.” Born in Gallup, New Mexico, he grew up on his family’s trading post in a Navajo country and as a young man became a real “horse whisperer” doctoring horses and riding high through life.
I knew Bronco as my son’s father-in-law and had the good fortune to visit him on several occasions at his ranch in Jarales, New Mexico. He and his wife, Karen, were gracious hosts showing me around their “enchanted land” and introducing me to green chiles and wonderful Mexican food. I went to my first rodeo and watched Bronco rope calves. There I was also introduced to the cowboy ritual of always having a cold “Silver Bullet,” a Coors Light in hand and an occasional snort or two of Crown Royal as the sun went down. It was a splendid time.
Bronco’s story telling culminated most recently in “A Collection of Stories,” a book he published in 2023. Autobiographical, it relates his life adventures, some entitled “Cowboys and Indians, Honky Tonk Heroes, A Historic Adventure, and Almost Famous,” all most interesting and some downright hoots such as his experience treating an elephant. It was his hope to leave his footprints as a legacy, and that he did in the best cowboy tradition.
With Bronco, we’re lost one of the best parts of the old West and I’ve lost a good friend who gave me comfort knowing he was out there, doing his thing in his own way.
As Bronco would say, “Let the hair go with the hide.”
We will miss you my friend.