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Friday, April 8, 2011

Sepia Saturday 69 Western fantasies and horses (Click here for Sepia Site)

It  has been ages, it seems since I posted here while we were on expedition to Arizona and New Mexico to acquire the new RV, the Excursion and to visit and  see things in a warmer climate.  Now home,  I have a lot of different ideas thrashing loose in my head but  today I'll feature my own sepia of sorts stirred up  after our visit to La Mesilla, New Mexico, near Las Cruces.  The Mesilla Valley was a natural trade route of the Native Indians  long before the Spaniards came to  northern New Mexico in 1598.  This area teems with history, right up my alley.  Ahh the old wild west before it was.   

1950 myself 5 years old on the roving Pony
As a  child I loved going to the movies with my Grandmother (Baba as I called her all my life) Rose; it was our special treat just for her and me to do so on a Sunday.  I   strongly preferred technicolor movies and cowboys and Indians, while Baba would prefer a musical or drama.  This meant that some Sundays we went to two movies, so that  we each could choose.  Growing up in the city in Pennsylvania,  ranches,  horses, and all western things were  pipe dreams to me and the movies of the cowboys intrigued me.  One day  a roving photographer happened by our house and while Mom was at work, her husband, my stepfather was home.  This is one of the nicer things he did,  paying the photographer to take photos of me with this pony.   I learned in  adulthood that many of my friends who lived all over the country had similar photos taken; what's comical is how proud we all were on our mounts. 


1945 Here I am on my Rockin' Horsey 



Actually my fantasy of horses goes even farther back to my very first horse that I still  remember today,  a rocking horse that my Grandfather  built for me. No small feat because though Teofil was many things, he was not a carpenter, still it was quite a ride for me.    I called it "Horsey" one of the first words I blathered clearly and I spent some time riding away. I guess I really got to making it go distressing my Grandma who was just sure I would fall off and injure myself.  I never did, but she felt she had to watch me carefully and she scolded Granpap for doing this, but there was no more to be discussed  as I was happy with feet in the stirrups.  I wonder whatever happened to Horsey?

 

1984 Me with our Charley Horse
 I never did become much of a horse rider, even later years living in California when we owned horses.  Jerry and Steve rode, but my fascination was gone, not caring for the height. It seemed a long way up there to me.  And it did not help that on one ride, Winnie, our Appaloosa  startled and  raised up on her  hind legs.  To this day I don't know how I hung onto her.  The above photo in 1984 shows Charlie,  our only problem horse; Jerry fancied taking him on hunting trips in the mountains but Charley was a horse with a mind of his own and a bad habit of laying down when he did not want to go into the trailer.  Any rider knows that the horse laying down can be a dangerous animal and that is something which is not to be tolerated.  Otherwise, Charley was a gentle guy, who loved Oreo cookies and carrots and  would pick them from my rear pocket.  One day I came home from work astonished to see Charley in his corral with the horse trailer.  The men had planned a mountain trip for the weekend but when Jerry went to trailer Charley, Charley had other ideas.  So Charley got to stay home but I found a big note inside from Jerry,  "Do not feed Charley any hay or oats, his feed is in the trailer.  He can go in there to eat!"  Jerry was not amused with Charley's antics.  Despite working with different trainers Charley never did get over this bad habit and so we sold him.  Don't know what happened in the early life of that horse, that might have caused that reaction.

Me at  Billy the Kid Building in La Mesilla
This Sepia post idea comes from  a day we  spent the day in La Mesilla, New Mexico, and another at the old Tucson Studios where many western films were made.   http://www.oldtucson.com/    Above I am with the Billy the Kid  building in La Mesilla just a week ago; immersed in the area, I began to think about all those old western movies and those  outlaw legends. If walls could talk, the history they could tell about the glory and gory  times in Western US history when Billy the Kid roamed the lands, and when disputes were settled with the six gun rather than waiting for years on court decisions.  This building still stands  in La Mesilla today, it  was  built in the 1840's by  the legendary Sam and Roy Bean, two brothers who intended it for a freight and passenger service.  After the Civil War it was became an important stop on the fabled Butterfield Stagecoach Line.  Mesilla was founded in 1848 and is Spanish for the “little table land” due to the nearby mesa that borders the Rio Grande River that runs by the village.  Since its founding the village has had a colorful history that is easy to imagine when walking around the streets of La Mesilla, seen in the photo below,  from another blogger. 

 Next week I will share more about  this historic place with some old photos that I have researched. As always click on the title of this post to go to the Sepia site where others share their Sepias. 

17 comments:

  1. I have a picture of myself in my cowboy outfit when I was about the same age as you were on the pony. I never saw any ponies or roving photo photographers where I lived.

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  2. Such a cute picture of you and the pony. You were certainly brave, the closest I have been to a horse was to stroke his face.

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  3. I always had friends with horses! I remember pretending as a child to have my own horses and the best part was naming them all! We live in an area where most neighbors have horses...but we choose to travel some, and have pets that are a bit less work! Great post!

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  4. There's a picture of me on a pony from my little girl days -- and I've seen one of my former husband on a dashing steed, as well.

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  5. Wow! I love the photo of you on the pony. We have a photo of my husband in a very similar picture. That's funny that your Grandpa worked so hard on his gift to you, and you were so happy, but your Grandma worried that you would fall off of that rocking horse.

    Thanks for the wonderful Sepia Saturday post and for sharing your travels and memories with us.

    Kathy M.

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  6. What a classic pony photo. Rockin' horsey photo is very cute too.

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  7. The Southwest in the spring is pure heaven. Next month starts the "not so much" time of year.

    Nice RV.

    --tattered and lost

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  8. Yes, I think that man with the pony traveled all over the world. My brother, sister and I all had our turn being photographed on the pony. And I've seen so many other photos. He really did get around, didn't he?

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  9. You are so cute on the little pony - pleased that your stepdad agreed to the photo :-) The nearest I get to horses these days is wearing US-made cowboy boots every day cos they fit my feet better than UK-made shoes! Charley looks like a character - and you seem to have got on well with him, even if no one else did :-) Jo

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  10. Oh yes. Been all through that country on motorcycle trips and with a pick up camper. And down to Tombstone, Bisbee and Douglas on State Route 80. Tombstone was the original county seat and the old court house had been converted into a museum. The county seat was moved to Bisbee when the mining played out near Tombstone. A newspaper, displayed in a glass case, recounted what came to be known as the shoot out in the OK corral. The OK Corral was down the street about a block from where that gun fight occurred, a vacant lot beside and the street in front of a boarding house. Interesting old town and area. Bisbee was also interesting; located ou both sides of a pretty steep canyon with the main street at the bottom. The hillsides were so steep that most of the narrow streets were one-way, alternating direction as you drove up or down the cross streets.
    Tom

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  11. Charley was my pal becaue I fed him those oreo cookies and never did try to make him trailer. He loved being a big overgrown pet, but had his own thoughts about what to do and not do and that did not go over well.

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  12. Pat, I enjoyed this story about your lifelong attraction to horses. I never even had a rocking horse as a child.

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  13. thanx 4 the ride!! that was fun!!
    :)~
    HUGZ

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  14. Great article as usual! Regarding the pony pix, I also have one taken in San Diego at The Pike. Now I have to go dig in the drawers So I can send you a copy! What a laugh I had when I saw that. You really "never change". I would have known that was you anywhere, I think!!

    Miss you, more tomorrow.

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  15. Pat, the only time I was even near a horse was when my parents took my brother and I to a kiddie amusement called Wild West City which was in Netcong, NJ but long since gone.

    DA Perrucci via Beatrice Boyd

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  16. You Know,The Movies Inspired Lots of Proto-Cowboys& Girls here in England too! Can You Imagine anything as daft as an English Cowboy! Mind you, I was also an English ZORRO too! Remember him?

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  17. Zorro, oh yes, that ear worm song, Zorro, Zorro, the,,,^%$ ...m?, something about the Z. And I can still hear the swish swish swish!

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