09/15/05 Sally

Sally How many times while you were growing up you were told not to do something, but you did it anyway? I'm Jeff Keane; I'll have one of those stories right after this. When Dad was a youngster he was training one of his first colts and had her performing pretty well in the corral. Sally was a nice little filly that didn't have the wildness or fight in her that a lot of the range horses were famous for in those years. Dad wanted to ride Sally out of the corral, but Granddad told him not to take her out alone and that he would go out with him later when he got back to the ranch. Well, Dad was young enough to figure he was old enough to know his horses and the dust of Granddad leaving hadn't even settled over the corral before he was mounted and opened the gate. Things went great for about 100 yards then Sally realized she was in the wide-open spaces and she knew what to do with space  she didn't buck, she took the bit and ran! About that time Dad knew his corral work didn't mean anything to Sally and there was a real good chance Granddad was right about not taking the filly out alone. You know, a runaway horse absolutely feels like it is running 10 times faster than any triple-crown winner could even dream of and the only thing left for Dad to do was ride. Luckily, Sally zeroed in on a horse trail that took her in a big loop back to the corral where she ran out of air and fuel. Dad wilted and poured himself out of the saddle. Granddad didn't have to say anything when he came home and Sally did make a good saddle horse in spite of that first outing. I'm Jeff Keane.