Main Characters: Merry Legs, Gayden, Rob and me – plus Mama and Dad
Approximate date: 1965
Scene: The Lot at Valhalla
Introduction This is the last story written for the book and one I decided to add after reviewing the manuscript. In Section V, I included the Tales of the Dellamata Knights and one of those tales is about the Knight of the Inspiring Horse (Mike Wampold). To appreciate that story, I think it helpful to better understand my experience as a teenage horse trainer.
We typically had five or six horses at Valhalla, and most were mares. We never had stallions, only geldings. From time to time, when one of the mares came in heat, Dad would take them to be bred or even better and more entertaining for us, bring a stud to Valhalla to do the deed there. Cinnamon, the foal of the Gray Mare, bore several offspring including Merry Legs who was born in 1964 when I was eleven years old. I asked Dad early on if she could be my horse and if I could be the one who trained her. He said sure.
Dad was not a horse trainer himself and even if he had been, it is unlikely that he would have invested the time and patience to teach me how to train Merry Legs. (As Jamsie and Liz will attest, Dad’s philosophy was pretty much “throw them in the water and let ‘em figure it out for themselves.”) My primary source of knowledge was a black man named Gayden who trained Tennessee Walkers for the Duvalls. He was truly a master at his trade. Not long after Merry Legs was born, the Duvalls hired me to ride some of their horses in horse shows. So, that provided the opportunity for me to learn about training horses from one of the best in the business.
From Gayden I learned that one of the first objectives is to get the horse, as a colt, to like and respect you. You do that by spending time with them. I had already been doing a lot of that. Merry Leg’s mother liked and trusted me which helped Merry Legs do so as well. Next, you halter break them so that you can get them to follow you and you reward them with little treats when they do. As they get older, you go from halter to a bridle with a bit. Most horses don’t like bits, so it usually takes extra patience and persistence to get them to accommodate a bit. Next you put a pad on their back and let them adjust to that as you lead them around, and after that, you put on a saddle. The first time Merry Legs felt the stirrups strike her sides, she started jumping which made the stirrups slap her and then she started bucking hard and high. I just let her go and she snapped both reins as she bucked around “the lot”. (The lot is what we called the main catch pen behind the house.) Note to David: this horse can really buck. Over time though, I got Merry Legs used to the saddle. All of this was preparation for the day I would get on her back and ride her. Gayden told me to wait until she was two years old before doing so. (Relevant to the next story, Gayden never suggested I use a lunge line in a round pen in the training process.)
Early on a Sunday morning after Merry Legs had turned two, Rob and I decided now was the time “to break” her. As suggested by Gayden, I replaced the two bridle reins with a single half inch nylon rope connected to each side of the bit. The key to keep a horse from bucking hard is to keep its head up.
Now you would think that I would have let Mama and Dad know that I planned to ride Merry Legs that morning. But I had this vision in my mind of hopping on her back, her accepting me, and then me riding up to the back porch and having the folks come out and ooh and aah at what I had accomplished (which would have been a very rare thing for them to do.) Rob and I slipped out, caught Merry Legs, and put on the bridle and saddle. I cinched the front girt as tight as I could get it, and the back as tight as I dared. We led Merry Legs into the catch pen chute and brought her up to the forward cross post just before the opening. The post prevented her from going out into the lot. Rob put another post behind her so she could not back up. I eased up the fence rails and gently settled into the saddle. The two things I was focused on were keeping the stirrups out so they didn’t hit her flanks and wrapping the rope rein around the horn so she could not put her head down.
“Ready?” “Ready. Pull the post.” Rob pulled the front post out so there was nothing preventing Merry Legs from walking out into the lot. I clucked and rocked and gently asked her to move forward. I could feel her tensing up. I did not want to kick her. “Rob, go pop her on her butt – not too hard.” Using his hand, Rob popped several times with increasing force. More tensing. Without saying anything to me, Rob hopped down on the ground, picked up a heavy sharp stick and jabbed it into Merry Legs’ flank. When I asked him later “Why the hell did you do that?” He said he just wanted to see a good show.
Merry Legs exploded. She went as much up as she did out. I clamped my legs as tight as I could against her sides. Straight up and then down with all four feet at the same time slamming the ground. My teeth rattled. Initially, the rope rein on the horn was holding so she could not get her head down. Next, she started spinning – while bucking as best as she could. First one way, then the reverse. Everything was a blur though I could hear Rob cheering. He was definitely getting his show. About this time Mama and Dad had picked up that something was happening in the lot and came out into the back yard. In all the spinning and jumping, the rope reins started to slip. Merry Legs took control. Instead of bucking full force though, she took a beeline for the gate between the lot and the back yard. I could envision a leg being crushed by one of the heavy gate posts and I bailed just before she crashed through the gate. The stirrups were slapping and with her head free, she started bucking all out. Mama had a tomato garden just on the other side of the gate. Merry Legs tore down every one of her tomato plants. She also knocked down a couple of fence panels. The saddle turned and both girts were ripped off.
Mama was furious, Rob was laughing his head off, and Dad was amused. “Is that what Gayden told you to do?” “Well, I thought so, but maybe I missed something.” (Like a stick jab in her rear flank by my little brother.)
Gayden came out a few days later. He put the bridle on Merry Legs and spent some time alone with her just petting and talking to her. He then put on the saddle and called me over. “I’ll hold the reins while you get on her.” I put my foot in the stirrup and swung up onto her back. She stood there – a bit tense at first but then began to relax. Gayden led her maybe 50 yards as he talked to her and then released the reins. “You can ride her now.” And she did just fine. Jamsie claims that Merry Legs was one of the best horses she ever rode.
I did break another horse after that one, but with much less drama and with no additional help from Gayden. Knowing my background, you will better understand why, forty-five years later, I was so perturbed when a horse trainer told me I knew nothing about horses, and I was going to ruin a horse that I was attempting to “Start”. Harrumph, little did that trainer realize that I had been tutored by Gayden, the best horse trainer I have ever known.
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