Our horses when I was growing up.
Locust Fork
Member Posts: 31,687 ✭✭✭✭
When I was a pre-teen we had horses that were boarded. My mother had a Palamino named King that was crazy. No other horse could be in front of him. So, if you were on a trail, you were going ahead of everyone. There was a Tennessee Walker, all I remember about that one was how long it's tail was. I had ponies at my grandparent's house. The little one was never fun.....but everyone wanted to ride it because it was the cutest. The big one was the sweet one and that was the one I always chose.
Mother would bring a friend to the stables with her to ride at times and I would get a "rental"....the infamous RUSTY, who was an unruly sot that took off running to the barn if you ever turned him in that direction. So, I made it my goal to get as far away from the barn as possible and let him go.....tearing through the brush and trees like his rump was on fire. To stop him took Jesus himself and a red plastic bat they'd give you when you rode him. When we moved and took our horses with us they tried to give us Rusty because nobody else would ride him anymore, but my parents weren't having it.
We had a group of Quarter Horses that were spoiled rotten. Paco was a hoot....he was from some line that was supposedly famous "Paco Brano" was his dad. He was pretty, but he knew it. He wasn't a lot of fun like Rusty. There was a mare named Cinammon who beat the heck out of the walls of the barn every night. Why she hated being put in her stall was anyone's guess. She was sweet and had a colt mom named Christian. He was a LOT of fun. We would ride Cinammon and he would come up and chew on your boot if you let him.....when you walked near him he liked to put your shoulder in his mouth, never biting down, but always messing with your hair or shirt, or shoes.
We eventually got to ride Christian and the guy that broke him had him where you could shoot from the saddle while riding him. This same guy eventually talked mother into selling him.....but mother insisted that he take Cinammon as well.
Mother had a Morgan that pulled a buggy.....he was a spooky ride. If a leaf blew across the ground he would circle it like it was a snake on the ground. He tossed me into the air himself more than all the other horses I've ridden altogether. My friends would ask to ride him because he was gorgeous, but I'd tell him....if you don't mind falling to the ground from way up there, you can, because you never knew what would send him into a fit.
There was a rescue horse that was ENORMOUS. Mother was in with some humane society group that took on horses that needed help.....this big boy had a nail in his hoof. He was lame, but the vet got him fixed up. This meant I had to take a warm bucket of epsom salt water out to the barn every morning before school to soak his foot. Ohhhhh....those days were frustrating. Especially when he would knock the bucket over and you'd have to go back in the house....fix the bucket of salt water and trudge it back out to the barn.
Brandy was my "final" horse growning up. She was a mutt of some kind....small, smart and a lot of fun to ride. She would let you jump up on her bare back and lead her around using just the heels of your feet on her sides. She liked apples enough to dig them out of your pockets if you had them anywhere on you. She put up with ZERO nonsense. When they built the homecoming float at our house a couple boys thought they'd ride her.....so she let them get on her back and then walked them over to a low limb and jumped up and down, beating them with the lower limb of that tree. It was so funny to see.
She was smart enough to open gates....which is the bad part of this story. My brother had the chore to go feed the horses one evening. He didn't put the chain around the gate so Brandy opened the gate. She got out in the road and a truck hit her...killing her instantly. The guy that hit her expected us to be responsible, but the laws are that farm animals have the right of way in Alabama....so his insuance and our home owners insurance both ruled in our favor, so he didn't get paid for his truck. If we could go back in time I would have done something myself to pay the guy, even though I was 16.....because that evil s.o.b. came back and poisoned our other horses. Nobody could proove it was him....but it happened right afterwards. I haven't ridden a horse since back then or thought about owning one. It was just too much.
I do wish I had gotten them for our kids. I feel like they missed out on something that was a wonderful part of my growning up. Maybe I will have a horse again someday.....probably not though.
Comments
I remember our horse days with mixed emotions. We bought this place because we had two quarter horses and a walker.
I was not sad when the last one went on the new owners trailer.
I've given my tack away over the years to young people who were just starting in the horse business.
Thankfully, none of the grandkids ever expressed an interest.
Went thru two " cowboy" phases in my life . Owned / rode/ had access to appaloosas, Morgan's, quarter horses, paints and everything in between. Favorite was a quarter horse from the Poco bloodlines. Lots of trail riding . Now I am sure I couldn't even get up.in a saddle. That sucks .
My only experence with horses
My first serious GF almost 50 years ago had a quarter horse named poko King odd I remember his name but my memory is a curse or blessing depending on what I am thinking about
I rode king a few times, but we never became buddies lol
he would try and drag me against trees or low limbs Knock me off
I know some of it was me , I had no idea about horses so I am sure he picked up on that and no use for a city boy
I think of her of course, and I think how sad it had to have been for her when her horse passed on they were best buddies
We have 11 acres here now.....and a barn. Its been tempting to get a horse at times over the years, but the kids were not all that interested in having one. Plus, with my work, their sports schedules and other nonsense we didn't have a lot of down time. I think that is one of the things that has ruined this country....no down time, overscheduled kids and moms not at home.
My sister is one of the most talented people I've ever seen when it come to crochet blankets and sweaters. I told Larry we needed to get a few Alpacas and start shaving them down to create yarn. I'm certain having Alpacas would be a lot of fun.