Horse and pony tricks

Back in the day, as they say, I was fearless on top of a horse. My horse, Lady, was tall, probably 16 hands high. She could be, and often was mean if you wandered by her on the ground, but once I was on top of her...well, I was the boss. I loved that feeling, too! She did what I told her to. I loved to ride her, fast. I could never beat my friend on her Arabian, but that didn't ever stop us from trying. We would race down the road or through the fields as fast as we could make the horses run. You've seen old westerns where the cowboys are running away from the posse? That was us. Flat out galloping with my face in the horse's mane urging her on.

One of the things that I loved to do was put the saddle on and barrel race in the pasture. Too bad I didn't officially compete because then I might have proof of how good (or really bad) I was. As it is, you have to take my word for it! On summer evenings I would saddle up and wait until our one rooster went off to roost then I would sneak around behind the chicken coop and with a large stick I would beat on the roof knowing that in just a few seconds that chicken would be out. Sure enough, he would come flying out the door with his wings spread wide and head straight for me. I would kick the horse into a run and we would fly down the pasture with that dumb chicken chasing us for all he was worth. I would do that over and over until he figured out that that was exactly what I wanted him to do, he couldn't catch me and he wouldn't play my game anymore. Not quite as good as having a posse chaing me, but close! Of course that rooster had his own way of getting even. He would chase my sister when she got off the bus at night. That was pretty funny, too. Watching her run screaming into the house with the chicken chasing after her! Don't ask her, though what she thought!