A Tale of Two Slushes

Sent to the younger sister of one of my partners in crime at Buzz's barn. She'd posted about just watching True Grit again, and that her favorite scene was where John Wayne puts the reins in his teeth and charges at the villains with a rifle in one hand and a pistol in the other.


I don't know if Karen ever told you about the time we went to the variety store on 129 (Mike's Corner Variety, right?) for slushes, against Buzz's direct orders to stay off the road.

She and I think it was Cherry Berry went in for the slushes, while I held the horses. When they came back, Karen handed me my slush and hers, so I put the reins in my teeth (on Jetty) and she went to climb on (I think Heidi).

Heidi started to move off, so Jetty thought we were going home, and turned and started trotting/prancing off (remember how he never walked)?

My reins-in-my-teeth ride ended less than stellarly: I fell off, still clutching the slushes, right on the only hard part of that mostly dirt parking lot: a big slab of concrete. Karen and Cherry raced off to get Jetty who was running down the middle of 129 (we didn't want him running into the barn riderless, or Buzz would have banished us) while I lay on the concrete moaning.

They caught him, and brought him back, and I rode him home (really wishing he'd just friggin WALK for a change). I'd bruised my tailbone, and it was probably the most painful injury I'd ever had.

Here's a photo of Jetty - the only one I have, sadly. He was much more handsome than this Polaroid made him appear; he had lovely proportions, not a huge head and small butt. That's Karen on Honey, behind us.