02/03/06 Glory

Glory Glory was Mom's horse and Mom was Glory's riderthey had a contract that said so. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back after this to tell you the story. Glory was a filly raised on the ranch that was going to be Mom's saddle horse just as soon as Dad did the early training. Training in those days consisted of running the new horses in the corral, haltering them, saddling them and riding them. Dad was a good rider and enjoyed testing himself against young horses that bucked. Glory didn't disappoint himshe was athletical, smart, and old enough to be pretty set in her ways. Glory developed one trick in her bucking that gave Dad trouble. He knew it was coming, and what it was but he never knew when it was coming. The score in the corral got to be about 50% in favor of Glory and 50% in favor of Dad so Dad thought those were good enough odds to try Glory outside the corral. The odds didn't change much in Dad's favor. One winter day, Mom and Dad were riding to check some cattle dad had fed the day before when Mom noticed snow angel-like marks with one set of human tracks heading back to the trail. She looked at DadDad just shrugged and said it was Glory's day. Dad did finally persevere and told Mom Glory was ready for her. Mom really wanted to ride Glory but felt she needed the insurance of a verbal pre-riding agreement with the horse that stated Mom knew Glory could buck her off anytime she wanted, but throwing a woman would look bad on a horse's resume. Glory evidently agreed since Mom rode her for years, Glory never bucked, and became one of Mom's best horses. I'm Jeff Keane.