The song “Amarillo by Morning” has the line “they took my saddle in Houston.” I don’t understand – who took his saddle, how, and why? Is this something that really happens in the world of rodeo, or just a songwriter’s imagination?
I guess it happened enough to be a plot device on “Adam-12”.
ETA: season 6, episode 3, “Foothill Division”.
I looked at a few different sources. It may be a poetic way to say he had to sell or pawn his saddle.
Maybe he just defaulted on some of his Student Loans… 
Probably this. Or lost it in a card game.
If a bronc rider loses his stirrup from his foot or any part of the tack from the horse before the 8 second horn he’s disqualified. Per PBR rules.
Pabst Blue Ribbon makes the rules? That’s carrying sponsor control too far!
Harumph, I say.
Professional Bronc Riders. Or Professional Bull Riders.
Any way they are the association that over sees these contests and rodeos. And makes the rules.
Or PRCA. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Assc.
George Strait was an actual competitive Rodeo cowboy. I assume he knows of what he speaks (sings).
I agree. The lyrics make it clear that the bronc-rider narrator is flat broke (“Everything that I got is just what I’ve got on… I ain’t got a dime”). He literally owns only the clothes he stands up in, so the saddle is probably one of the things that went to pay for necessities.
“Amarillo by Morning” was written by Terry Stafford and Paul Fraser, and originally recorded by Stafford as a single in 1973 to minor success.
News Flash: cowboys are always broke. Two things they hang on to, their boots and their saddle.
They might sell blood to get the rodeo entry fee. But they would not pawn the thing that gets them the ride in the first place.
He didn’t write this one, but here is Terry Stafford’s biggest hit. Released in 1964, “Suspicion” made it to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In April of 1964, “Suspicion” was in the No. 6 spot, and the Beatles occupied the top five spots. The following week “Suspicion” hit No. 3 breaking the Beatles monopoly on the top five spots.
I take it in the same sense as someone getting their car repossessed might say “they took my keys”. In other words it’s not that it was stolen. It’s that he could no longer afford to pay whatever money is required to participate in horse riding.
It’s also a throwaway plot point in Red Dead Redemption 2. Hosea and Arthur discuss it towards the beginning of Chapter 2.
Really awful pun time (ahem) —
The cowboy’s name is “Moon,” so now he’s a saddle light.
I’m goin’, I’m goin’.
You so terrible, Burpo. 