Horses- Second Installment

Jethro and Grandpa: Cowboy Talmage:  So, I forgot a couple stories I intended to put in the first post, so I’ll start out with those.  Firstly, when we lived in Willard, one time our horses got out and we all went looking for them.  We found them not far away in our orchard eating apricots off the trees.  They were happily munching, their faces dripping with orange-colored juicy foam.  :)

Ethan:

Wyatt and Lindsay Ann on (Silly) Maggie:  One time when we lived in Willard for the second time (we had moved away, then moved back for a short stint before we moved to NoDak), and our horses were temporarily at our friend's house, Wyatt and I saddled up FahsElle and I went riding through the “town.”  I went past my old piano teacher’s house, so I stopped to say hello.  She wanted me to come in and play some pieces on the piano for her, so I tied up FahsElle to the front of her porch and went in.  After a while, my piano teacher’s husband came in and said, “Was that your horse tied to the porch?”  So, I was young.  I didn’t realize it was a bad idea to tie her up by the reins.  She pulled and broke the reins (not ours, our neighbour’s –oops) and she was off.  I don’t really remember how I got her, but my piano teacher’s husband helped me and somehow we got her back.  How embarrassing.

Me, Ethan, Dad, Myles:

Brett and Anna, and Dad:  Another time, Wyatt and I (in fact, I think it may have actually been the same time as the story above) were saddling FahsElle and Wyatt was wearing sandals.  FahsElle stepped on his foot and Wyatt screamed like a girl and then chomped FahsElle right on the neck.  What?!  Who bites a horse?  It was sooooooo hilarious!

Dad and Hazel: Wyatt: Wyatt bit a horse, and a horse bit me.  Yes, I’ve been bit by a horse.  Not one of our horses, our horses are far too nice to bite.  I was at my Aunt Darlene’s house, and my cousin Becky and I had been playing in the barn for awhile, and then we started walking back through the corral to the house.  One of their horses started coming up behind me, and it made me nervous so I started going faster… and then it bit me on the back!!  Like a flash I was at the fence and sprang over it.  It hurt like the dickens, although it didn’t break the flesh.  Guldurn horse. 

Grandpa, Jethro, and Hazel: Now, my older sisters and brother had more time in Canada with horses (they even barrel raced when they were little (I’m eternally jealous)), and I knew of stories of times they’ve been dumped, but they were only half-remembered so I asked my dad for the details and these next two stories are what he gave me.

Hazel and Grandpa:

Megan was riding Talisman along the highway from Cahoon's down to our place . She started loping and Talisman bucked (probably just crowhopped but he was going downhill) and she got dumped. She lost her glasses and couldn't find them. I offered a reward and all of you kids and Uncle Dave's kids looked for a couple of hours with  no luck. A year later I was walking across the highway to check the spring over in Cahoons field and I found them.

Megan and Tibabi (don’t you love that name?  pronounced Ta-babby): Ethne and Grandpa: We had several horses in the little corner field just east of the house in Leavitt. Included in the group was Thunder and Talisman.  Both were bays but Thunder was about 31 years old and Talisman was 4 or 5. Amy went in the field and crawled onto Talisman, who she mistakenly thought was Thunder, with no halter, bridle , or even a rope. The horse got milling around and then headed on a run to the south end of the field. I came out of the house just in time to witness the event. Talisman headed right at the fence at the end of the field and I knew that he would either slide to a stop or turn quickly. In either case I figured that Amy was going airborne. Well, he turned and Amy did a head plant into the ground. When she got up quickly and started crying I was relieved, if kids can cry they are usually alright, but then she collapsed on the ground again. She spent the night in the hospital. She had a very sore neck and shoulder and probably a concussion. The injury made it so that she couldn't keep her PJ’s up. (You will have to ask her about that.)  (Indeed I will.)

Jethro: Okay, these next two stories are the most exciting ones that I have personally witnessed.  The first involves my sister Andrea.  We were at my Uncle Montey’s for a reunion, and different people were riding horses in the field.  So Andrea was on behind my cousin James (I believe), and they were riding next to my cousin Troy.  Or maybe Trent.  I can’t actually remember for sure.  Anyhoo, they started smack talking, and then they started racing.   They were really going fast, and then the saddle that James was on started slipping sideways.  James kept trying to shift it back, but Andrea could not keep up.  I was just walking nearby, and I watched the whole thing.  Little by little Andrea started falling sideways, more and more until finally it seemed like her head was right in the hooves (and remember this horse and the one right next to it were going flat out!), until finally she fell off and tumbled for a ways.  I thought for sure she’d have been trampled to death, but she was fine.  Man what a show!!!

Jethro, Hazel, Ethne, Grandpa: Wyatt and Maggie:

Wyatt, who quite possibly enjoys riding the most out of the kids in our family, had a special relationship with a horse named Moe.  He rode him a lot in NoDak.  Moe was very tall and fast.  Dad brought Moe to the family reunion that I posted pictures from earlier.  You know the really steep hill I told you about?  Well, Wyatt not only rode Moe down the hill, but straight down off the side of the road to the river bed below.  Kinda like the Man from Snowy River when he jumps right down the steep part of the mountain.  I thought Wyatt was going to die.  But that’s not the story.  The story is that my cousins had their horses there too, and so there was of course lots of boasting and smack talking going on between everyone (because they’re Rasmussen boys) about who’s horse was the smartest, greatest, best looking, but mostly fastest.  So a race was organized and I think there were maybe 6 or so horses in the race.  All of the spectators, me included, waited at the sidelines of the finish line.  The signal was given and the race began!  Everyone took off and Moe was having a fun little jog, lagging far behind the other horses.  The horses came pounding closer, and then part-way through, it was as if Moe realized that oh gee- it was a race.  And suddenly he stretched out his long legs and kicked it into high gear.  And you know in all the movies how the horse comes from behind in the final stretches, and you get so pumped and you scoot to the edge of your seat and start jiggling your knees?  It was like that, except more!  It was honestly sooo exciting—my adrenaline was pumping as Moe pulled closer and closer!  Wyatt was just 13 or so at the time, so still kinda little, and he was hanging on to this tall horse just like Alec on the Black Stallion.  Well, obviously (or this story wouldn’t be a good one), Moe passed all the other horses and WON!  Oh the poor losers had to eat crow.

Wyatt and Mom (and Old Chief): Much to Wyatt’s great chagrin, my dad sold Moe when he moved back to Utah from NoDak.  Later, when my parents moved from Ogden to Logan, Wyatt posted this poll on our family website:

Title: Moe, the best horse ever!

Since dad has land again shouldn't he buy back Moe, so that the grandkids will have another nice horse to ride instead of fighting over poor FahsElle?

a) Yes, thats a good idea!

b) Of course, Moe's a grand horse!

c) Only if Ethan rides him all the way back from N.D.

d) Most certainly, He is FahsElle's baby you know!

Wyatt and Maggie: Wyatt and Hazel on Maggie: Grandma and Hazel and Maggie: Hang on to your hats, because there’s another installment coming soon.  :)