The Horses's Name Was Lady

                                                                          LADY

My father one day brought home and we named her "Lady";  she was a purebred Morgan horse and had been trained to obey our voice commands and could do six different gates.  The first was simply "walk" and "trot"..."canter", "single-foot", "lope" and "gallop", she was amazing!  She was brown and broad and to ride her without a saddle took long legs...(which I didn't have).  He had won her in a poker game down in Groton, NY and she came from a family he knew well.  So by 'the luck of the draw' we now had a beautiful horse to put into our old barn on "Jake's Acres".

I remember riding home on a school bus; that when it came to a dirt road I would as the driver to let me off, and he complied.  I took off running as fast as my little legs would carry me and I always beat my other siblings home far enough to be able to take Lady out of her stables and have time to saddle up and be ready to greet them when they were let off the old yellow school bus.

I often rode Lady up to me grand parents because I knew my grand father Erve had often rode horses which had never been ridden before; I guess they called it "riding a busking bronco" and he smiled when I rode up to our old barn.

There was one problem we had with Lady; and that was when anyone one said "Get Up" she would rare straight up into the air with her front hoofs clawing away and then land with a "thud"!  The only was to have her move ahead was to gently shift ahead in the saddle and tap her with the reins on the right side of her neck.

I wanted to be able to simply say "Get Up Lady" because I thought that would be a lot easier for me, and when I showed her off to the other farm boys who also rode horses, I thought it would make a better impression.

Well I told Granddad about this and immediately he threw his left leg over her saddle and said in a loud voice, "GET UP LADY!!!"  Boy, did she ever, straight up in the air, twisting and turning and starting to buck away just like they did in the old cowboy movies.  Well of course she finally came down and the look on my grandfather's face showed me he would not give up.  So it happened all over and again, and again, and finally at the very top of her twisting and turning my grand father flew off and landed on his hands and knees.

My grand father was usually a mild-tempered man; but not this time...I had never seen how so angry and determined to 'break a horse'...so up he climbs back into the saddle, only this time he takes the reins and begins to swing them back and forth real fast and hard causing Lady to twirl around even faster....I watched without even taking one breath, and finally it was all over....Lady stopped dead still,,,

My grand father dismounted and handed me the reins and helped me up into the saddle again...Lady was real still, though I could see the froth around the bit and her trembling under me.  Then I whispered "get up Lady"...and sure enough, she started our with her left front foot and slowly I rode her back onto the road and from there it was like changing gears in a car..she shifted quickly from one gait to another until we arrived galloping back to Jake's Acers" all in one piece.

Now anyone was able to ride her as she had been 'broke' as my grand father Erve used to do back west when he was a real cowboy.

I don't think that's the way to treat horses any longer, just like with our children, I think starting our being gentle and without a lot of yelling and spanking, both our children and horses learn to behave the way we think they should....