True Grit...

I took the day off, today... Hadn't intended to, but it just turned out that way.... I've been runnin' pretty hard, all week, had great fun, with Pal, Val... But it really felt good, just hangin' out at home...The movie "True Grit" was on... I love that movie... My Dad took me to see it, when I was 5 or 6... It has John Wayne, Kim Darby and Glen Campbell as the main characters... I think my Dad thought I was a lot like the Kim Darby character... After watching it, for the 100th time, today, I think he was right... I was pretty 'head strong'. I love the part, where John Wayne and Campbell, try and 'ditch', the girl, and take a ferry across the river, and leave her behind... I would have done the same thing, as the girl, she jumped her horse in the river, swam across, and beat them to the other side...Actually, I have done this myself... Across the Cedar River, with my beloved Horse, Admiral, that's an image of he and I, above, strolling along the Cedar River, back in May, of '79.... He would have been a four year old, and I was 16... A Gazette photographer saw me riding,{ pants rolled up, and of course, no shoes...as soon as the frost is out of the ground, the shoes come off!!!} and put our picture in the paper... I remember this day, like it was yesterday... I ditched school, and ran out to see the horses... I didn't have any equipment, no bridle, so I threw a rope around his neck, and nose, and away we went... Headed for downtown... It was the most beautiful May afternoon, trees were budding, the sun was warm, on my face, and all was right with the world...

I bought Admiral, when he was just 4 months old... He was a Thoroughbred, tall and lanky... He could run like the wind, and sail over fences, with me, riding bare back, like no other... I would put the reins in my teeth, have my arms straight out, and jump 4 foot fences... Oh my...{ I learned this by watching True Grit, John Wayne does this at the end of the movie! I thought if he can do it, so can I ! {my mother never saw this... she wouldn't be here today, if she did...My Dad did...he thought it was pretty cool!}.When Admiral turned 2, I broke him to ride. I'll never forget the first time I jumped on his back... He just stood there, so I gently booted him, just a little, to try and get him to go ahead.. Instead, he kept backing up... So I booted him, a little more, and straight up in the air, he reared... I slid right off his rump... I kept playing with him, and little by little, he understood what I was trying to do... He was the smartest Horse I have ever owned... He passed away, in 2004, and is buried here... He was my best Bud, for 28 years... At that time, I had known Admiral, longer than I had known John, and liked Admiral a lot more than John, some days... I could take Admiral out, run a race, with a fellow horse person, {and win, we never lost... Not because their horse wasn't faster, Admiral had a 'winning heart', he wouldn't give up.... It was his spirit} Then come back, and put a 5 year old child on him, and he would just walk, slowly walk... I could run 'barrels' with him, using a piece of twine, around his neck, for a bridle... We'd be running full bore, then I'd pull back on the twine, and he'd put the brakes on, and come sliding home... He came from wonderful bloodlines, {War Admiral, who goes back to the most famous racehorse of all...Man 'O War} His father was a racehorse, but then sold, to be a 'bucking horse', in the rodeo's, and was a Champion... I was a little nervous, when I first started breaking him, knowing of his Father's bucking abilities..And Admiral could buck..He never got me off, bucking, but I would put my feet back, and just barely touch his flanks, and we'd put on quite the show! He loved it! I'd put him on a lunge line, and have him trot in circles, then I would throw my hand in the air, and he would rear straight up, and walk on his hind legs... He loved to play...He was amazing... I loaned him out, a few times, to folks, and always said, if he won't go down a trail, turn back, he's smarter than you, and he'll never get you hurt... When I was 14, and 15, I rode him to my brothers house, 60 miles away, right along the highway, right past the house I live in now...My friend, Doreen, who was riding with, pointed this house out, as we were riding past...She said she was going to live here, some day... She was killed one year later, when she was 17... in a car accident... I was a 16 year old poll bearer, at my best friends funeral... {Doreen was the best horsewoman, I have ever known...Boy, could I tell you stories about our escapades!} It would take us 2 days, and we'd camp at the Amanas, overnight, I'd call the Sheriff's Department, and ask them to check in on us...{no cell phones, in those days...} our fanny's would be pretty sore, and we'd always walk the last 5 to 10 miles...

The day I decided I wanted to get to the other side of the river, we just walked in, and when he started swimming, I slid off his rump, and hung onto his tail, until we reached the other side... { Mom didn't see that either...whew!} That was kind of scary, I will admit...{ The Cedar is a pretty strong river...} We took the long way home...and I never attempted it again... But I'll never forget it, either...

I'm glad I took the day off, and had a wonderful visit, with 'The Old Man'... I'll never forget him... My 50.00 colt....He was truly 'priceless'...

Barb C.