I watched the horse perform his masterful work.
August 17, 2007 (Friday) – A couple of days ago, Dale Pogue wrote in his
blog about some of his childhood experiences, and among them was a ride on a horse that took him through a door just high enough for the horse. The rider was knocked off the saddle.
Horses are smart. They know when a rider is inexperienced, and sometimes they take advantage of that and do things to rid themselves of the unwanted would-be cowboy.
My first attempt at riding a horse was in Herman Park in Houston. The horse knew it was my first time, so he took me down a trail with low-hanging branches, and broke into a gallop. I managed to stay in the saddle, but I was a little worse for wear when the ride was over.
The next time was years later, when Wanda and I were visiting her parents. Her father and their family’s “hand,” a man named “Slim,” along with several others, joined by the cattle dogs trained for the work, went to get some cows out of the brush and loaded on to cattle trailers. I was assigned to old “Buttons,” a member of the family but a work horse who had been around long enough to know a “greenhorn” as soon as he mounted. He behaved himself very well considering his disgust with the inexperienced rider when it came time to work the cows. The dogs went into the brush and drove the cows out into the open, and then the horses herded them one by one into the trailers. Buttons gave me a chance to make the decisions, but he knew right away that I was a lost cause, so he took over, ignoring my feeble attempts at control. Finally, I just grabbed the saddle horn and watched the horse perform his masterful work. When the cows were loaded, and it was time to go back to the barn, Buttons broke into a gallop and refused to respond to me. He got to the barn and the feed, and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was telling me to go away and never come back.
But I did come back, and the next time we got along pretty well. He knew that I knew he was tolerating me and being nice to me on his own. Horses are smart.
The only other experience I recall with a horse was at my part-time job on Lancaster Avenue when I was in the seminary in Fort Worth and fed my boss’ horse each day from a bucket. The boss wanted the horse to eat no more or less than a certain amount of feed, for his own good. Hence the bucket. We got to be pretty good friends. I didn’t try to ride him, and he never gave me a cross look.
Aside from the obvious value of horses for work, they make great pals for some people. Animals can become an important part of a person’s life, whether the person is young or old. Have you ever thought of animals as God’s gifts to the creatures He made in His own image?
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Read Dale Pogue’s “The Muse is Loose”