Diablo and his Tether

         Remember that first horse I got? Diablo the Jumper!? Well. he proved to love jumping all right and never seemed to stay where I put him. I was forced to tether him on a chain because he broke everything else. So he was extra work right from the get-go. He would get lonely if he couldn't see the other horses and so I would tether him not far away from them. This of course made the others think he had better grass and then they wanted out too! But electric fence worked well for me and mostly kept them in. One day when we went to get the horses in from the back road pastures, I found Diablo all wrapped up with his chain and a small tree. He must have been there a long time and his leg felt cold! That scared me and although he didn't seem lame the only thing I could think to do to help him was to dude him out on as many rides as possible and get the circulation going again. Fortunately, this worked well. In some ways he became a bit of a favorite among the kids and they once held a shovel behind him to collect the horse buns as they were made! Another time on a two hour ride they counted how many times he 'went” and I seem to remember something like thirteen.....plain to see what that brown horse was made of.

On another occasion I had quite a time one morning when Diablo was loose and dragging his tether. I used a peioce of sharpened drill steel for a tether pin and for the most, part this worked well. This time however. he had worked it loose. Who knows how long he wandered around dragging the chain and pin?

In the night, he managed to take down the electric fence and got the other horses out as well. Now I really had my hands full! Suddenly something spooked Diablo and he took off at a gallop down the road. He had that picket pin winging through the air and every so often it would leap up and jab him in the butt and he would take off even faster!! The rest of the herd joined in the running and I could only hope no car would be on the road coming up from town. Fay Thompson happened by just then and took the situation in at a glance and told me to hop in her Volkswagon. I was hoping the horses would not turn back but thought they would continue up the hill to the air strip. But once again I lucked out, the horses turned into the corrals they were familiar with and Diablo got himself wound around the outhouse and the excitement was over.

Many years later when I got interested in overnight horse-packing trips, I would come across Diablo once again. A guide/outfitter had bought him and found he could not be used for the hunters as he continued to jump anything he could but the guides could ride him. He was the only one of my string that I ever saw again after I sold the horses. I spent a few moments talking to him and took a photo for Bobbi as she had spent a lot of time riding him. But life goes on and when I mentioned him to her she had forgotten him. I guess I remember so well because he was so much Trouble but I already had a horse named Trouble so Diablo he stayed.