LIVING INDUCTEE
DONN W. “BUZZ” SHORT
DISTRICT 8 - YEAR 2025
Donn W. Short was born to Jack and Julia (Zehntner) Short at the Zehntner Ranch, just outside of White Sulphur Springs, Montana on February 7, 1949. It was in the middle of a brutal winter - still the coldest on record. The doctor was brought out from town on a sled pulled behind his uncle’s saddle horse. His father used to say that he was practically born with a rope in his hand, although technically it was his mother who used the brand-new rope which Jack had strung across the headboard to help her during the birth…
After such an auspicious start, it seems that Donn, or “Buzz”, as he is commonly known, was destined to be a cowboy. At two years of age, he saw the first of many horse bellies. His father was starting a colt in the corral as Buzz and his mother watched through the fence. The training session got wild, and the colt cleared the fence and the top of Buzz’s head, much to his delight and his parents’ dismay. While that may have been his first time on the underside of a horse, it certainly wasn’t his last. He and his father, who were later joined by his brother, spent many years together breaking horses, both to ride and drive.
Buzz spent his early years living in various cow camps around Meagher County, working alongside his father and learning to cowboy. Formative years were spent primarily at the Barton Place, Miller Gulch, and 4 Mile camps. By nine years old, he was doing a man’s work and earning wages. Like many ranch kids being raised on shoestring budgets, he and his siblings Loreen, “Spike”, and Jackie, comprised the crew and were expected to earn their keep.
Learning the “Cowboy Way” often involved some difficult lessons. At twelve years old, he had proudly saved enough money to buy a proper felt hat. Riding tall in his new brown 3x Resistol, Buzz started through the big pasture with his father, checking on the heavy heifers. His snakey horse started to buck, ultimately ending on its side, down in the mud. The prized new hat came off in the chaos. Seeing the wind pick it up and send it tumbling toward the river, Buzz wiggled out from under the horse, getting it out of the mud and dropping the reins before racing after his hat. He managed to save the Resistol, but then had to weather the storm brought by his father. Upon returning the horse, Jack wasted no time in letting his son know in no uncertain terms that he should NEVER - under any circumstances - let go of his horse. Cowboying 101: lesson learned.
His parents were musically gifted, with Jack playing the harmonica and Julia the accordion, piano, and pump organ. They traveled to neighboring ranches in the summer and community halls in the winter, playing music and dancing into the night. Some of Buzz’s earliest memories are of falling asleep in his mother’s green velveteen-lined accordion case, listening to his parents play Mockingbird Hill and Bluebird on the Windowsill. When not traveling to join friends and family, their home served as a community gathering spot and was always filled with music, laughter, and dancing. As he grew older, Buzz’s musical contribution was limited to the spoons, washboard, and tub; however, he found his greatest joy on the dance floor.
After graduating from White Sulphur Springs High School, Buzz moved to Dillon, where he attended Western Montana College. He worked for the Dillon livestock market and various Beaverhead County ranches during the school year and returned to day riding in Meagher County in the summers. For fun, he dabbled in team roping and saddle bronc riding.
Despite earning a teaching degree, it was graduation that paved the way for Buzz to resume ranching full time. He returned to his home range in White Sulphur Springs for three years, before working ranches in eastern Washington for the next several years. While there, Buzz supplemented his ranch work by advertising another skill that he had learned from his father during his childhood: horseshoeing. As it turns out, when the new farrier in town hangs up a flier announcing his services, it attracts a lot of business. Good news, until you realize the new business is loaded with problem horses that the other farriers wouldn’t take. Yet another lesson learned.
In the fall of 1978, Buzz returned to Montana, where he spent the next 41 years in the Helena Valley working for the Running W Cattle Company. Now retired, he still finds great pleasure in helping his friends and family with their spreads, whistling to his meadowlarks, and guiding the next generations.
Over the years, Buzz has been a member of the Meagher County Rodeo Club, served on the board of the Helena Valley Community Center, and worked behind the scenes at numerous local rodeos. Known for his endless supply of stories from an adventurous life lived under the wide western sky, he is the life of any gathering. When he’s not spinning tales or leading a lively two-step at the community dances, he treasures spending time with his neighbors, daughter and granddaughter, passing on the lore, traditions, and values of his beloved cowboy way.
Cowboying is the only life that Buzz ever imagined living. He has spent nearly 80 years surrounded by great men, many of whom have been inducted into both the Montana Cowboy and Pro Rodeo Halls of Fame. He feels grateful for the opportunities that he has had to learn from the best hands in the land. Buzz is proud of his Western heritage and practices a steadfast commitment to preserving the lifestyle. He is recognized by his friends for his quick wit, hard work, humility, commitment to community, and honest living; but what impresses them the most is his wholehearted embodiment and promotion of classic cowboy culture. He has served as a mentor for many young cowboys and cowgirls, freely sharing the knowledge of horsemanship and ranching that he has amassed throughout his lifetime. Despite hearing frequent declarations that the age of the cowboy in the American West is over, he firmly believes that it continues to shine and is safely entrusted in the young and upcoming cowboys whom he has the pleasure of calling his friends.