Training Begins

  I had been so busy with life in general, I had neglected my own horse a bit. All of a sudden it was 1971 and Trouble was three years old !!  I had done a bit of work with him prior to coming to Twin Bridges but three was certainly old enough for his education to continue.  There were two other colts in the dude string that were the same age so I worked with them as well.

  
 Indian Made was a pretty black and white pinto. The spelling of her name told the story almost.  It was “Made” not Maid!  Her dam, a small pony sized animal and not pretty at all, had escaped onto the Indian Reserve long enough to be bred.  When they got her back she produced this beautiful filly. Some kind of miracle for sure!  And so this new addition, was christened Indian Made as in Made in China!

   The other youngster was Comanche. His dam had been Easter and I know nothing of the sire.  I liked Easter, a lovely chocolate kind of liver chestnut colour, she was a smooth ride and I used her often when I rode bareback.

   Needless to say, my riding had improved with all this practise, but I was far from perfect.  Almost all of the String had dumped me at one time or another.  These tiny “episodes” were usually discussed at supper time. Although he was teasing, Pops once asked me when I was going to learn to ride!  I was quite hurt by that.  Still, he trusted me and actually wanted me to train his two colts as well.  The training of the colts and the filly went well! None of them threatened to buck at all and of course I didn't want them to start.   

   I worked with all three horses as often as I could but it wasn't on a daily basis at all and therefore took a bit longer.  Comanche and Indian Made of course were both destined to be part of the string.  But long before I had a good start on him Comanche did his first ride. One day we were short one horse for a ride and I really didn't know what I would do.  Easter, Comanche's mother was in the ride.  Pops had been hanging around the tack sheds that day and he told me to tack up Comanche to go out with her and said he would be fine.  I certainly had my doubts about that but this young horse had always been very quiet.  So with many instructions to the rider and not a little trepidation I sent the riders and horses out.  Of course I worried, but as with most worry, it was for naught.  All went well and an hour later all the horses were back in the home corral.

   The horses were fed through the corral fence, as the centre rails had been left out. A group of this many horses, were a rough lot at feeding time and often kicked out at another horse trying to shove into a place that was not his.    Although I knew better, one evening I attempted to catch Easter for an evening ride and neglected to speak first.   Otherwise, Easter, a hard-to-catch horse, might take off.  I happened to put my hand on the colt first and BOOM it was lights out for me!  I had been kicked in the stomach with both hind feet!  The other riders were wondering where I went.  The horses had all been eating when I got knocked out and now were finished and had gone out to pasture.  I thought I yelled for Ken but apparently it was inaudible.  With the horses all gone and my stomach sore I opted to pass up the ride that night.  I thought I was a horse trainer now but the horses continued to train me!