Horses evoke a lot of memories for me, going back to the 70's...Maraba, Hurricane and Dobie...
Maraba liked to bite people for some reason, not just a little nibble either, He could take a chunk out of your shoulder as if you were an apple! Dobie liked to rub a rider off on the side of a tree, at full gallop.
Hurricane? Need I say any more about him? He was the worst! He liked to behave all docile and honest until you were really far away from the ranch riding fence with your little can of used staples, then, out of nowhere, for no apparent reason, things going along swimmingly, the 'Hurricane' showed up! If you survived the buck-off, landed in a nice soft patch of prickly pear, and managed to be spry enough to escape a good front hoof pawing, you had a long walk home!
A guy I knew out on a SD ranch got kicked square in the forehead...He shoulda died but didnt. Doctors in Rapid City proclaimed it a 'miracle'. He was always a quiet guy, but after having his frontal lobe stoved in, and his cerebral cortex scrambled like a waffle house omelet, 'scattered, covered and smothered' so to speak, he talked nonstop more than a Politician and made just as much sense! I doubt to this day the guy knows his own name...
RustyTX wrote a great poem titled 'Jake and Jim' regarding horses and mules...I memorized it of course..this version is not quite correct, going off of memory and all, I hope its good enough...forgive me Rusty..!
Jake and Jim,
by John L (Rusty) Smith
My Grandpap was a sharecropper, lived on a sharecrop farm. He worked the fields all his life raised a family by the strength of his arm.
Most farmers used a team of mules, or horses to pull the plow, but Grandpap only had one of each so he made due anyhow.
Jake the horse worked on the right was getting on in years, a big all purpose Jack-of-All like those used by pioneers.
Jim the mule was younger, worked on the left you see, providing the strength of this working pair chained to the doubletree.
Together they worked, side by side throughout all of their trying times, pulling wagons and plows and harrows and such while Grandpap worked the lines.
Never apart did these two work they only worked as a team! Jake the horse to make the speed and Jim to provide the steam!
One day the years caught up with Jake, he was old and sick and weak, Grandpap decided to use Jim the mule because of his grand physique.
But Jim would not move out of his stall and leave Jake standing there alone! Grandpap had to prod and whip to get Jim out on his own.
He led Jim out to the barnyard and hooked him up to the rake, but when he tried to make him pull, he stood like he wasnt awake!
He finally moved but wouldnt go straight though Grandpap pulled hard on the reins, he couldnt control or make Jim work so he unhitched the chains.
He led Jim over to the barn and checked him from stem to stern, then shaking his head....walked up to the house to tell Grandma what he just learned..
This is the reason he told her, why Jim wouldnt leave Jake behind...
They only worked as a TEAM you see, because Jim the mule, was blind...
Mud
