Horses, horses, horses

 Horses seemed to be part of Charley and I's life - starting from his childhood and also mine.  So to document the horse theme in our life - here goes!

Horse story #1:

My friend, Cheryl, had two horses and they both were pastured at Charley's dad's house/pasture just down the street from where we lived.  By that time, his dad was in a nursing home, so the house was empty. She put them both out to pasture behind his house.  Lots of good grass for them, and 3 acres to run in! Her horse's names were Libby and Sugar.  Sugar was an absolute sweetheart and a large horse - her gait was very easy on the rear!  She had Sugar for quite a while before she got her second horse, Libby.  Well now Libby was a horse of a different color - pun intended - in color but also in temperament.  Her gait was pretty bumpy, and she certainly had a mind of her own - and not always what her rider wanted!  I remember she tossed her head a lot as if to tell me who was boss when I was riding her.

Cheryl and I would ride them when we had time - and since the houses on our road were all on a small acreage plot, it was sort of in the country, and sort of not!  We would start out from the pasture. onto the paved road, and ride around sort of a square to get back to their house.  We doubled back though, about halfway round the "square".  We turned the horses around on Richland Road because there was no way in hell we were taking those horses on Cleveland - which was a main road leading from the air force base.  Lots of traffic, lots of drivers getting off work and antsy to get home, lots of "flyboys" and their souped-up cars - way too dangerous for the horse and us "riders."

We always had so much fun riding and generally just a great time out in the great outdoors.  UNTIL ONE DAY!  Cheryl was riding Sugar, and I was on Libby. We had gone around to our halfway mark and started back. Yakking as usual nonstop.  As we turned around to start back, for whatever reason - Libby decided she wanted to be rodeo horse that day.  She started kind of dancing around like a crazy horse, and I kept trying to calm her down, using the reins and talking to her.  Then she decided that wasn't enough excitement, so she started throwing herself around in circles.  AND THEN came the bucking.  I held on for dear life with my legs, yanking on the reins, and yelling at Libby to stop the entire time.  Scared spitless.  Cheryl was watching, horrified, and her face was the color of chalk. After our rodeo ride, Libby finally came to her senses and quieted down.  Somehow, someway, I did not get bucked off.  It was just plain weird!   To this day, I still don't know what caused her to go cuckoo, or how I was able to ride the rodeo horse without getting thrown off.  Libby never had done that before, and she never did it again.  I think Cheryl and I both nearly needed a heart transplant after that episode.

Horse story number 2

Charley loved horses,  He often rode horses with his friend, Terry Williams.  They rode all over our area.  I think, if I remember correctly, Charley and Terry both helped his dad break in new horses.  One day, Terry and Charley were riding their usual route.  Not sure what happened, but Terry's horse decided it was rodeo time.  He pranced and bucked and Terry landed in the ditch and broke his leg.  Charley rode back to Terry's house to get Terry's dad.  Somehow, they got him up and home.  Went to the hospital and had his leg in a cast.  Terry was forbidden to ride until he healed, and really wasn't allowed outside much.  So since he was housebound, Charley would go over almost every afternoon and play cards with  Terry.  Felt kind of sorry for Lois having to put up with two teenage boys underfoot for months.  They were such a great family, and great friends to Charley.

Horse story #3.

As you can see by the previous posts, Charley loved horses,  Loved riding them.  The lot next to ours was just pasture - no house.  A girl from the base rented it for her horse, Red.  Charley would pet him, now and then. and we just got used to Red being next door.  One day, the girl wanted to ride Red.  That horse was NOT having any of that.  Ever!  He bucked and pawed and pranced until she was boiling mad. She just could not get him under control or settled down.  It's a wonder he didn't flip her off his back and hurt her a lot.   While this was going on, Charley had been watching the rodeo.  He came out and asked the girl if she would mind him riding the horse and "breaking" it for her.  She was very dubious, considering the fit Red had just pitched!

Charley got on Red, and off they rode to the creek.  Up and down, with Red determined to throw him off.  Up and down, up and down, until Red finally gave up.  Charley brought him back up to the front yard, they brushed him down, and cooled him down (and I wouldn't be surprised if Charley had lectured Red in his ear about behaving).  From that day on, Red was a good natured horse, and the girl could ride him anywhere.