Wayne in BC
New member
finally we get back to the White Horse........as i said at the beginning, i was bored because it would be a couple weeks before i could get to the Ranch, for various reasons.The Army base had PMQ's (permanent married quarters) that were situated on a long gentle hillside. On the top of the hill by itself on a couple acres was the Colonel"s house. A nice fancy joint by our standards!
Then starting below that and down the hill for 1/3 of a mile or so (remember what runs downhill folks
) were the next in line, Majors, Captains, etc. Our family was in the middle. Then the lower area, corporals, pvts, which made up the bulk of the houses. Then a gap of a 1/2 mile of scrub brush and swamp, below which was an old farmstead with a nice house and a small barn. There lived the RSM (regimental Sgt Major). Now the officers could bust ya and make life tough for a soldier but the RSM was the one most feared, even by officers.Paddy Fallon our RSM was known to be fair but hell on wheels! So this boring Saturday morning i had spent all my limited interest and intellect mindlessly trying to murder various critters with my slingshot. Not much luck, the Coots on the slough stayed well away and pretty much ignored the occasional splash as a rock from my sling landed well short of them. They knew us boys well
.I was walking the trail quite close to the RSM's house, maybe 50 yards away when i saw the HORSE! Pure White, tall and well proportioned, it was standing untied while the RSM himself groomed it and i stood frozen and fascinated until Paddy stopped his brushing, stood still for a bit, then turned to stare at me! Yikes! It was true, he was superhuman! I was wondering if i even dared run when i heard his voice, calm, even, and not deep and booming as it should have been say........come over here sonny.
I stayed stock still for a bit then squeaked out, yes sir, and walked over to the giant, the legend, the man whom all the soldiers spoke of with humility and ill disguised fear.
What are doing boy? Um..... hunting Sir. You know this area is off limits? I thought for a moment, realized the futility and stupidity (for a change) of trying to lie and said......yes Sir! Silence for a moment, then he said, you like this horse do you?.....yes Sir! Do you know how to ride? I think so Sir, i learned on my Uncles ranch Sir.
Hmm, very well he said as he took a bridal from a corral post and slipped it on the Horse's head, i was impressed as she, yes it was a mare, opened her mouth calmly to accept the bit. He crossed the reins over her neck and said, hop on boy, she is quiet. A bit nonplussed but eager to both obey, and ride the neat Horse, i grabbed some mane and leapt to her back slightly worried because we sure had some quiet Horses but any fancy ones i had seen seemed quite spirited, not that that would be a problem, because i liked nothing better than a good bucking match........ The mare stood calmly.
Now take her at a trot to the end of the fence (30 yards) and back he said and i touched my heels lightly to her flank while bracing for anything. The mare walked out immediately and purposefully so i increased the heel pressure and she advanced to a smooth trot. Once i was back in front of the RSM he indicated for me to dismount, saying, well, you have a good seat. I did not have a clue what that meant (and in this day and age it would depend on who said it whether he lived or died!
) but he seemed serious and began to question me about the strangest things. Like how far a horse could run, how do you clean a hoof, etc.He seemed very interested in my answers to his questions and i realized that i no longer feared him as he acted like an ordinary man. No loud bellowing, no purple veins standing out in his neck, jeepers, he was just not fitting the mold? Then he said......ok sonny what is your name? I told him with some trepidation but he smiled and said, Doug's son? Yes Sir. Would you like to help me take care of and exercise my horse? I will speak to your father.
Yes Sir! Now i was a bit scared at all this but it did seem like a fine opportunity to get a chance at Horse freedom! He went on to tell what he expected and led me around showing me the feed and tack etc and asked that i exercise her as often as i could and NO racing or foolishness! Yes Sir!
The next day when Dad got home from work his first words were, what the hell were you doing down at the RSM's place? Um, i wasn't really right in his place and he called me, and......
Never mind, i'm proud of you Son! Paddy Fallon had a talk with me today and said he reckoned you were a fine boy. So you will look after his horse? Yes Dad! Good for you kid, Paddy is a good man. Um, Dad, i thought he was supposed to be kinda nasty? Laughter from my Dad.........just say nothing Son, you will learn..........
The next few days were fine ones, specially when i learned that the mare was more than enough spirited if you opened her up and calm enough that it only took a few tries to get her used to the slap/snap of my slingshot, Man! I was Cavalry now!
I wished i could use my .22 but figured it best not to act like a little savage like we did on the ranch.A bright and warm morning and i rode happily along the grass airstrip just a bit east of Paddy's house and marking the boundary of the verbotten 80 sq mile mile military training area which in the summer had as many as 20,000 troops. (lots of live fire in those days). I was on my way to a small lake a mile north that always had some neat things to do and the mare "Keno" purely loved to wade in and have me scrub her down, that horse liked water. How i found that out? I best plead the fifth and just say i watched a lot of Cowboy movies
I also gained huge status among the camp kids but they were all po-ed because i would not take them down there. Paddy had not said anything about other kids not being welcome but i hinted that he had
I believe i was halfway down the grass strip when the world came apart! I cannot describe it proper like but will try........WHOOOSHBOOMROAR!!!......and i was on the ground with the wind outta me while the very panicked horse flew back toward home. After a minute i realized what had happened. There were always aircraft around, not fighters or bombers but light spotters and T-33 jet trainers, one of which had just made a low pass along the strip i was on! So that was what all the noise, wind, and dust was about, hmmmm. It took one more lesson two days after to understand that was no accident! Those boogers could pick out me and that White horse and have fun whenever they were bored, so it became a game, one which Keno the horse did not much like but........
I would venture out along the strip, stop and listen some, trying to pick the sound of the T-33 out of the background of far away artillery and mortar fire and the drone of heavy trucks, some only several hundred yards away. They would always come from behind me or out of the sun. If i heard or saw the jet, i would dismount and hold the poor horse who was actually getting almost used to it. But, a couple more times they got me, i got dumped and had to walk back as they waggled wings and laughed like hell i am sure. I never told anyone cause i was embarrassed and anyway a guy did not whine about them things, maybe city wimps did but......Now flash forward 40 years nearly to the day. While bartending in the local legion in 1997, i got talking to a retired air force pilot. As the talk went i mentioned Wainwright and he said that he was there during the summer training and i asked what he was flying. When he said T-33 i said.......oh? One of those boogers who used to spook my white horse on the airstrip huh? Well! The look on his face was priceless! Like a Deer in the headlights he was speechless and i knew i had him!
We talked some and laughed about it, small world etc, but he never really warmed up and i suspect he thought i was carrying a grudge. Heck little did he know i woulda done worse than him!Now you know what the "White Horse" was all about after all my yammering on other things. My Uncle ended up buying that horse from Paddy two years later and we had her for many years, she was a delight and one of the best i ever threw a leg over.
Endit
This was an excelllent story Wayner! Keep it up! Our story forum had too few stories on it lately. I should talk. I have a few of my own to write, but have to be in a good thinking mode when I write them. I love sharing some of your boyhood times. You have done some very interesting things in your life. I did not know until know that your were a military brat! 
Thanks for the bedtime story!