Dad and horses

Yesterday Dad missed watching the Kentucky Derby and he didn't choose a run to win!  I think Dad always loved horses.  There was a horse named John on the farm in Georgia that Dad was strongly attached to when he was growing up.  In fact I think John was near or just a little bit older than Dad, I remember Dad telling us as children how when he was in college or in the Air Force, John had died and this saddened Dad immensely.

Mammy and Pappy appreciated Dad's love for horses.  One time as a birthday gift he received a wonderful leather saddle.  Dad loved to read Western novels as a young boy and in the West, horses were essential to living on the plains, or in being a Cowboy. 

Dad sent Mom a letter from "beyond the grave" and she received it on or about April 20th, 2010.  The letter was written in March or May 1980 and the Lapeer Bank sent it to Mom on the 20th of April as they must have just learned about Dad's death.  In this letter Dad gives Mom advice in the event he predeceases her and there is this telling statement that Dad "wanted to retire in the West," that I, or Mom, had never known about before.

When we rented the Harvey farm in Lum in the 1960s and the Harvey's rented out the pastures to Kenny (I have forgotten his last name, he ran an auto repair shop in Lum), who put his horses in the pastures.  Kenny gave us permission to ride his horses, and there were three that I can recall, a little Shetland Pony, name forgotten, Angel, a mid-size chesnut horse, and Candy, a large chestnut. 

Dad used to go with us into the pasture and throw us up on Angel or the pony.  Dad would take the horse's halter in his hand and he would take off jogging so that Angel would trot and we could get the feel of a horse in motion.

Dad was a patient father who so loved his daughters that he would gladly go out to the pastures with them after a long day of work and run with the horses so we could experience something of what he did as a young boy in Georgia on the farm.