More Horse talk

Sometime after we got settled into the horse condo, known as "the barn", Jennifer Deter's folks Don and Jane bought a stall for her, along with a small sorrel horse that she named Drifter. Jennifer is a couple years younger than I am, but our parents were friends and we were on swim team - so we were friends. I convinced her to call the horse High Plains Drifter, after the Clint Eastwood movie.

Wayne Rodger's daughter Sally was the person that introduced me to the world of horse ownership - I had ridden her little pony a few times before I got Frosty. Ron and Jackie Guttenfelder's daughter Susie lived in the house by the barn. Girls and horses - they go together.

The cast of characters:

• Zandy - Wayne Rodger's chestnut gelding. Wayne spent way more time working with horses than he ever did riding them.
• Miss Viscosity (Vissy) - her parents were Pony Adair (Wayne's brood mare) and Croton Oil. I think the name was very clever - viscosity is a way to measure thickness of a fluid (in this case, oil). Vissy was Sally's bay mare, and my gelding Jack - though he was technically not really a "he" was in love with Vissy. Jack would nicker and pine for her when she wasn't nearby.
• Pistol Pete - Susie Guttenfelder's very tall sorrel gelding. Susie rode him from the time she was very little.
• Misty Moon - formerly Anna Day Rodger's Tennessee Walking Horse, but by this time she was owned by Leroy Nelson, who I believe was an employee of Walnut Grove. I rode Misty a few times. She was training in the smooth gate of that breed. You didn't neck rein her, and didn't kick her. Instead, when you wanted her to move out, you just said, "Get away, Misty!" and clenched with your knees, urging her forward. It was like gliding!
• Dean - had a buckskin. Can't remember much else.
• High Plains Drifter, followed by Sweetie Bar Sweet (just saying that name made my teeth rot) - I don't think Jennifer Deter's mom ever did tell Don what Sweetie set him back...$$! She was a great Western Pleasure horse.  
• There were some other horses that would move in and out. I still think I'm forgetting someone.   

I spent a lot of happy hours at the barn - grooming Jack, mucking out his stall, messing around and riding. The indoor arena was great for riding during cold weather. There was also a larger outdoor arena available. Jennifer's grandpa made her some wooden jump standards - so we could pretend to have jumping horses. It was fun to put an English saddle on my horse and put the stirrups up high like a jockey.

We didn't ever wear helmets back then - and are probably luck to be alive. Though I rarely fell off. Jackson (as Wayne called him) was not a jumper - he probably went 18 inches at the most. Most frequently we rode the horses down Guttenfelder's gravel lane to the dirt road just west of their place. There were fields nearby and the dirt road ran north, then turned east and ran along a narrow field that flanked the Nishnabotna River. The famed, and somewhat decrepit 8-cornered house was at the end of the road, with a gravel road that ran north on the far side of the house. I could get all the way to Robyn Bredensteiner's house going that back route!

Before the crops grew, that was where I could kick Jack into high gear - and feel the thrill of his top speed. Girl and horse - one with each other. If I was by myself, I would sing. No iPods back then. Gordon Lightfoot. I'm sure Jack found it soothing. ha! A few times Jack shied (jumped suddenly because he was startled) due to pheasants flying out of tall grass. That was when I nearly lost my seat in the saddle. He must have lived his early years someplace dry, because he was very suspicious of puddles and water. When he came across a puddle - even in the parking lot of the barn, he would gather himself and leap across it. I had to be ready!

When I didn't feel like going the rural route to ride, I could head south, down the gravel road past the lumber yard (before it burned down), towards the hospital. Before HyVee was built, there was a field with a path that led to the old fairgrounds and barns that were a part of that complex. That was where we kept the horses before the move to the Barn. My classmate Candice Drake's dad was the Frito man - his warehouse was in a building there. One time, when Frosty was still there, I spent many hours making friends with a dog with pups out there. Another time Sally and I popped open the door of the old fair office and found ancient calendars and fair info. If I was feeling brave, instead of heading across the field, I would cross Highway 6 and go up the hill towards the hospital, riding on top of the flat hill.

When I got Frosty, my first horse, I joined 4-H with Sally. We were in the Glad Girls of Grove! Grove Township - that was our group. I was like a fish out of water, with a mom that wasn't much help...bless her heart - she was a Girl Scout Leader. We knew nothing about this organization. I remember having bad dreams that I showed up at some event with the wrong spoon. Even back then I was feeling inadequate and it manifested itself in my sleep! I registered for Saddlebred classes instead of the ones I should have...it was a struggle. And they made me do a project in Food and Nutrition. All I wanted to do was show my damn horse!

In the end though, 4-H did serve me well. I learned about Robert's Rules of Order - something used in many groups I've been a member of. I kept a Record Book, which was a lot of work, but taught me a lot about keeping track of projects. I still remember every project I did. One time Marci Rodgers tried to drive Sally and me out to Blake's house  for a 4-H meeting after a great deal of rain. She took a dirt road shortcut. Bad idea! We ended up in the ditch, but were close enough to walk the rest of the way.

Wayne Rodgers had a horse trailer and truck, so he hauled us to horse shows. Not only did we go to the 4-H show that was held early in August each year, we went to lots of other area shows - Anita, Cumberland, Audubon - places like that. Back then horses were popular. The classes we were in, Junior Western Pleasure, were often packed full - 30 to 40 participants. We got to know several other kids out on the horse show circuit - like Jody Zellmer, Geneda Jessen, Scott Westphalen and Tammy Rutherford (her dad did our horse shoeing) with her blue roan. There were kids from other towns too - like those old-fashioned looking girls from the Audubon area we called the Campbell Soup twins. It was a great way to spend weekends.

I'm sure Wayne was pretty sad when Sal and I grew up and thought we were too cool to hang around horses. I'm afraid I was the oblivious "cool" one. I kept Jack all through high school, but I didn't give him enough attention. It was a sad day when I sold him and the stall to a woman - I can't remember her name, but I think she was Susi's classmate. She didn't keep him too long, and then the Wickman family purchased him and he went to live at their farm. One time I took Paul there to see him. When he was about 16, somehow he got out on the blacktop and was hit by a car and killed. Too young. Jack was a good guy - such a personality!

Horses are a great deal of work and responsibility. They are expensive and can be high maintenance. I wouldn't advise anyone who isn't ready and willing to accept the responsibility to buy one. But if you have the chance to get to know one - you are a lucky person. Like I am.