04/06/07 Touchy ride

Touchy Ride Sometime what you don't know really won't hurt you. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back after this to give you an example. Whoever coined the phrase "ignorance is bliss" must have been thinking about cowboys and horses. My Dad told me a story that pretty much illustrates that statement. Dad, Granddad and another rider were heading home one evening after moving and checking cows all day. Granddad was riding a young horse he was just breaking. I use that term because that was what riders did in those years. A lot of the new training methods used now that are easier on riders and horses weren't practiced in those years. Many of those horses of years past weren't started until they were four or five years old so it was riding skill and will against the horse's will and plenty of power and athletic ability to back up that will. Well, just as the evening was getting darker, Granddad's young horse spooked at some perceived monster and started his "look at how scared I am" dance. This particular horse wouldn't have bucked Granddad off, but he used a little trick that brought the top of his head and Granddad's forehead crashing together. With Granddad knocked unconscious the colt won the contest and threw his rider. Dad and his buddy got to Granddad, as he was somewhat coming to. He said he was hurt, but could ride home if they could get him on a horse. With a rider on each side and Granddad bordering on unconsciousness they did get him home for the seventeen mile drive to town on a dirt road. The doctor said they were way luckier than they knew since Granddad had a broken rib that was just scratching on his lung. See, ignorance is bliss. I'm Jeff Keane.