My First Horse

My First Horse

I know I rode horseback before I walked and probably before I could sit as my parents were ranchers. However, I got my first horse when I was about 5. He was a small, black-brown Morgan we called Morg.

Now I may have wanted a horse but Morg did not want a girl. In my memory, all these incidents happened in the first week of our relationship but they probably occurred over a longer period of time.

Morg obviously did not want me to ride him. I rode while Daddy was harnessing or un- harnessing his team or refilling his fencing cart or doing other light chores in the barnyard so he was keeping an eye on us. He would holler at me to tell me what to do but Morg did what he wanted no matter how hard I tried to follow Daddy’s directions.

Whenever I would guide Morg near the barn or the tall corral fence, he tried to rub me off. Daddy would get on him and he would walk beside the barn and fence but when I was on him he would lean into them.

The tank serving the corral and the barnyard was set into the ground. The side in the corral was about 15” above the ground but the barnyard side was only about 6”. I rode Morg over to the tank so he could get a drink. He stepped in with both front feet and would not or could not back out. Daddy had to come to the rescue. I did not willingly give him the opportunity to get another drink although a couple of times he was stronger than I and again stepped in. He drank from the tank normally when Daddy was riding him or when he was loose.

The crowning indignity came after a heavy rain and I decided to ride Morg across the puddle in the barnyard. He decided to roll in it! I jumped off and was still holding the reins and screaming at the top of my lungs as he rolled over and over. Daddy stood in the barn door and laughed until his sides hurt.

I don’t remember when Morg left the ranch but, in the fall, when I started school, I had my second horse. Buck was a big buckskin who would put his head down so I could bridle him by myself. He went wherever I wanted him to and walked beside the barn without leaning and got a drink without soaking his feet. I rode him to Kindergarten. He was my younger sister’s first horse and the horse our city cousins rode and a part of our stable for many years.