A Short Story…
It wasn’t until I made a stupid comment to myself that I was able to take in Jerry’s details and attempt to make a winner out of him. No matter what the score is or what you need it to be, I shrugged my shoulders and repeated my loser message “It doesn’t matter; it just really doesn’t matter.” It’s actually the release of the fear that makes you a winner . . . that and a little laughter work together nicely. Mostly.
Jerry did some studies and found out that wild horses were easy pickings in Nevada. There were approximately about 42,000 wild horses in the state as well as 5,000 burros waiting to be caught and sold. Catching them wasn’t that difficult, if you had a truck and trailer that could hold a small handful of wild horses. Jerry put together a small cowboy crew hungry for money. With the rented truck and trailer, hay, buckets of water, and a taste of adventure we headed towards Nevada.
Chasing the horses was easy. Capturing and containing the horses was a different matter. The horses didn’t like being stored in a small trailer. Actually, it was a larger trailer, but the number of original horses, the captured horses, water, hay, and cowboys made for a tight gathering.
It also would have been a lot better if perhaps several shovels had been included in the horse collection plan. Walking inside the trailer with water sloshing about full horse poop made life a little difficult. We made several pull-overs to find hay and oats for the horses as well as to leave lots of little piles of poop beside the side of the road had made us easy targets for potential captivity. Beginner’s mistake – next time, bring shovels!
Once we reached the beachside, we tried selling some of our stock. We were not greeted kindly. Once we got to Washington’s Ocean Shores, everyone seemed kinder. An extra day and a half of clean up left us with a better plan in case we did this a second time, which didn’t seem likely.
We enjoyed the trip and learned a lot. Unfortunately, the endeavor was so expensive, each of our workers got paid at the lowly rate of only $10 a day. Our crew appreciated the money and the laughter we had after selling the horses. “Quite an adventure”, one of them said, “but I’ll probably pass on the next trip to Neveda.” “Wisely stated”, I thought. Next time, think things through, perhaps.
Don Doman says
As a youngster in Tacoma, I had a Shetland pony. Our family lived on a dead-end street both in the front as well as the alley. We overlooked Nalley Valley. KoKo had his own way of doing things. They didn’t always agree with the rider (me). I was getting on him one afternoon at home after school. I put on his saddle and his bridal and reins. I stepped into the stirrup, swung my leg over his back and into the over stirrup and it was like down at the races. We took off at full speed across the alley and headed toward an old fence that sat back about a foot and stood up another foot. He didn’t make it over the fence, but I did. Have you ever seen the movie or TV shows where the horse is shot and goes head over heals with the rider still on top. Both KoKo and I did the head-over heals shot. For both KoKo and me once was enough. Once in the winter I had him saddled up and we rode two blocks up to the park. There was a little water way with the water heading for a real ditch. KoKo refused to move. I had to get off of him and pull him away from the ice and water. Several times KoKo left to go out on his own. He was easy to find. The golf course and green grass was just a few blocks away. The most fun I had with KoKo was after school. I walked to and from Stanley Elementary School. Generally, my two dogs, Pal, and Cindy were waiting by the fence and gate. KoKo stood his ground in his pen and watched the dogs getting ready. He knew once I was home he would get some water, hay, and some sweets if he was nice. I chose to not walk down Ferry Street, but quietly walked down the alley. I quietly got to KoKo’s pen and yellow fence and yelled “Hello!” The dogs both jumped and KoKo neighed and laughed a bit as well. It was nice being alone with my pets and my buddies, too (Next door neighbors).