Hey, Look at Me!

Ever had a time when you cried out, "Hey, look at me!" and you wished no one had looked?

Today my grandson, Chris, was riding his bike.

"Hey Granny, look at me," he hollered as he rode his bike into the driveway across the street. With that he took off and flew across the street into his own driveway, coming to a stop just short of his dad's pickup and the garage door.

That reminded me of the time when I was a little younger than his 11 years, I would guess I was 8 or 9 years old. My family was still living on the farm a few miles from Ainsworth.

I had been riding my Shetland pony, Tony, that warm afternoon. I loved cowboy movies and so I would ride Tony as hard as I could get him to move and run him right up to the water tank where he would come to a skidding halt. It was just like in the cowboy movies!

After several successful runs, my brother-in-law, Don, was standing in the middle of the yard. I had ridden Tony to the far end of the yard to get a good run at the tank.

"Hey, Don," I yelled, as I turned Tony around. "Watch me!"

I kicked my heels into Tony's sides and we took off flying. I hung on to his mane for dear life so I wouldn't bounce off -- my dad never allowed me to use a saddle.

Tony did it just like we had been doing it. He gained momentum and ran right up to the edge of the full cattle water tank, sliding to a halt with his front hooves touching the metal of the tank. Dry dust flew up from under his sliding hooves.

Except this time Tony added something new to trick. He dropped his head at the instant he stopped at the tank.

I flew over Tony's head and landed with a big splash in the water tank.

I saw Don bent over with laughter as I came up out of the water spitting and sputtering.

I never did ride Tony into the horse tank again.