Just For Fun Stories
I have been told that people would LOVE to hear some of my stories! Well, I decided to put it to the test, and here are a couple to start with!
"Bring Her Home, Bo!"
Recently, my sister had the task of putting a horse down that was nearly 30 yrs old, and was being boarded at her facilities. His owner had barrel raced him throughout his early years, but then tragically, she was involved in a car/train collision that left her paralyzed and with brain injuries. Her family kept her favorite horse all those years, and were unable to part with him when the time came. They enlisted my sister's help and she took care of the sad but necessary task, and buried him on her farm. She asked me to write up a story about him, that she could give to them, and this is what I came up with:
Bring Her Home, Bo!
In the spring of my life, I learned the thrill of running the barrels! I felt the excitement as we got revved up and ready to burn! I could feel the power and hear the thunder of my hooves as I charged across the ground, barely slowing long enough to DIG IN DEEP as I spun around the first barrel, stretching out again to get to the second one just to dig in deep again! The second barrel behind me and I dug in again to charge to the third one, spinning tightly as I smelled the finish just seconds away! Stretching out!! Tearing for home!! The huge booming voice saying "Bring her home, Bo!!" over the speakers, as the crowd roared in my ears!! Mane flying, dirt spitting behind me, her legs pumping my sides along with every stride as I RACED for the finish!! And always, always, HUGS and pats on the neck were waiting on the other side as she told me I did so great!! I felt the love, I felt the thrill, I felt the passion of the "Six legs, two hearts, one dream" as we strived together to make the fastest time! My only thought was to "Bring her home, Bo!"
Then, something happened, and I didn't feel the legs pumping any more. I didn't feel the power of my strides as I dug in deep and stretched out to reach the second barrel, then the third, then the roar of the crowd over the
sound of the loud speakers saying "Bring her home, Bo!". All was quiet. I was lonely for those hugs. I was looking for that excitement again, but.... all was quiet.
In the winter of my life, the pain was strong, my strength was gone, my speed was only a memory. Then one day, it was finally over! I found myself running free again without any pain, all of my strength had returned, and I was as fast as the wind!! With my mane whipping, I once again could hear the wind as I raced along without tiring, hooves
pounding and digging in!! And then, I heard it again! That familiar sound of a big booming voice telling me to... "Bring her home, Bo!" My one true love... to "Bring her home, Bo!"
"Bo"... 1983 - 2012
(This story isn't mine, but it is really cute!!)
A Smart... Donkey... story!!
One day, a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.
He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.
A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.
As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!
MORAL : Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!
(A great story, with a happy ending, and something to learn all at the same time! I LOVE IT!!)
************
He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.
A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.
As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!
MORAL : Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!
(A great story, with a happy ending, and something to learn all at the same time! I LOVE IT!!)
************
What's in YOUR Bucket?
As I sat across the desk from the new Plant Manager, I was a bit nervous as he asked me questions during the job interview. I had put in for a promotion, for a Supervisor position. No woman had ever been hired into a Supervisor position at this plant ... yet! When he asked me the question, "What do you think needs to be changed on Second Shift?" I answered him, hoping my answer didn't sound too strange to him. I told him there needed to be more discipline, first of all. And I said, "Please don't take this wrong.... I don't want you to think that I feel people are the same as animals, but in a way, they are! I have had horses, including stallions, for many many years now, and I've learned SO MUCH from them! The one thing I've learned... never give them an inch, or they will walk all over you! " And when he asked if I thought I would be able to get the employees to cooperate and work for me, I answered .... again..."I have worked with horses for so many years, that I relate a LOT about life, to what I've learned from them! One time, I tried to bring my horses up from the pasture, and I tried to chase them up on foot. I worked HARD to get them to come up, but they kept racing back to the pasture! I yelled at them and called them all IDIOTS!! Then, I walked up to the barn, got a bucket of grain, and walked back out. They ALL CAME RUNNING, and I had to turn around and RUN back to the barn lot!! That's when I decided.... I WAS THE IDIOT! All I had to do was figure out what they wanted (a bucket of grain!), and they would follow me anywhere! The same holds true for PEOPLE! You have to figure out what motivates each individual, and develop that need so they will follow you!"
I got the job.... out of 33 applicants... the first woman supervisor hired in that plant, I got the job! And I became a GREAT supervisor, because my employees would have done ANYTHING for me! I found their "bucket of grain"!
*************
Years ago (December of 93), my (ex)husband and I were driving home from working the second shift one Saturday night and stopped to pick up the Sunday morning paper. As I drove, he was reading me the Horse Classified ads, and came upon an ad stating "Wanted... Kid-Broke Pony". It got my mind to whirling, and when I got home, I wrote this up! As a kid, I had the wonderful experience of growing up with ponies! They helped make me stronger! ENJOY!
"Kid-Broke Pony"
Have you ever heard the expression, “Kid-Broke Pony”? If you have, can you tell me what it means?
….. I remember when … I was a very young girl, and you couldn’t DRAG me away from the barnyard! The egg gathering was my specialty, feeding the sheep was a treat, not a chore, and best of all, those ponies HAD to be ridden! I spent every waking moment thinking, playing, reading, riding and feeding ponies! We were fortunate enough to have a Mom who loved them as a girl too, so she encouraged my activities with them. We didn’t have the money for lessons, or even a well broke horse, so I learned the hard way! But do you think that ever stopped me? HA! Never even slowed me down!
….. I remember when… The pony bucked me, my neighbor, and even my brother off! All at the same time!! Well, okay, maybe three kids all on one pony all at the same time WAS too many, but then the darn thing ran home and made us all walk!!
….. I remember when… The pony took the bit in his mouth and ran all the way home, with me madder than a bee, clinging to his back and pulling on the reins yelling “WHOA!” to a suddenly-gone-deaf pony! To make matters worse, he thought it would be funny to take my leg off on the gate post on the way by! (But …. He missed!)
….. I remember when… The ponies decided they didn’t want to be caught, and chasing them over 80 acres grew to be an all-day event! But I caught them anyway! NEVER CRY UNCLE to a pony!!
….. I remember when… The pony ran home with my older brother when he was driving him to a cart. Something about a 90 degree turn into the driveway at PONY-MACH ONE, and seeing the pony, the cart, and my brother flipped over against the fence, gave me a healthy respect for driving and control! But since nobody was hurt, I was patting the pony and whispering “Good boy” and things like “Way to go! You got him good!”
….. I remember when… The pony always thought the middle of the biggest mud puddle was the best place to roll and cool off… and for me to GET OFF! And the neatest thing for him to do was to roll in the mud to get a good thick coating of mud, just before I would go out to ride!
….. I remember when… I loved to lay on the side of a hill on a warm spring day, soaking up the sun, and have my pony munching grass next to me. And I loved when I would ride, the feeling of my hair blowing in the wind, and the smell of my pony in the new, clean spring air. All I would worry about was making sure I wasn’t late getting home, or Mom would ground me from riding for a week!!
….. I remember when… My values were based upon episodes of “Bonanza”,“The Big Valley”, “My Friend Flicka”, “Fury”, “Mr. Ed” and “The Rifleman”. My imagination would run wild on the pages of Walter Farley’s “The Black Stallion” series, or Marguerite Henry’s “Misty of Chincoteague”, or many of the hundreds of other books I dreamed in!
….. I remember when… The whole world seemed to be against me. Everyone was against me… everyone except my pony.
….. I remember when… My brother would chase me to pick a fight, and he’d always catch me and beat me up. Except when I was on my pony.
….. I remember when… My parents got divorced. We moved to a different town, a different school, different kids, different classes, a different bus, a different teacher, a different life. But everything was okay again when I got
home and rode my pony.
….. I don’t remember … DRUGS… ALCOHOL… GUNS… KNIVES… SEX… ROBBERY…GANG WARS… TEENAGE PREGNANCIES… SUICIDES… AIDS… DRIVE BY WHAT???
….. I guess you could say that…. I was a “PONY-BROKE KID”.
….. I guess you could say that ….. I was a really lucky kid!
As I sat across the desk from the new Plant Manager, I was a bit nervous as he asked me questions during the job interview. I had put in for a promotion, for a Supervisor position. No woman had ever been hired into a Supervisor position at this plant ... yet! When he asked me the question, "What do you think needs to be changed on Second Shift?" I answered him, hoping my answer didn't sound too strange to him. I told him there needed to be more discipline, first of all. And I said, "Please don't take this wrong.... I don't want you to think that I feel people are the same as animals, but in a way, they are! I have had horses, including stallions, for many many years now, and I've learned SO MUCH from them! The one thing I've learned... never give them an inch, or they will walk all over you! " And when he asked if I thought I would be able to get the employees to cooperate and work for me, I answered .... again..."I have worked with horses for so many years, that I relate a LOT about life, to what I've learned from them! One time, I tried to bring my horses up from the pasture, and I tried to chase them up on foot. I worked HARD to get them to come up, but they kept racing back to the pasture! I yelled at them and called them all IDIOTS!! Then, I walked up to the barn, got a bucket of grain, and walked back out. They ALL CAME RUNNING, and I had to turn around and RUN back to the barn lot!! That's when I decided.... I WAS THE IDIOT! All I had to do was figure out what they wanted (a bucket of grain!), and they would follow me anywhere! The same holds true for PEOPLE! You have to figure out what motivates each individual, and develop that need so they will follow you!"
I got the job.... out of 33 applicants... the first woman supervisor hired in that plant, I got the job! And I became a GREAT supervisor, because my employees would have done ANYTHING for me! I found their "bucket of grain"!
*************
Years ago (December of 93), my (ex)husband and I were driving home from working the second shift one Saturday night and stopped to pick up the Sunday morning paper. As I drove, he was reading me the Horse Classified ads, and came upon an ad stating "Wanted... Kid-Broke Pony". It got my mind to whirling, and when I got home, I wrote this up! As a kid, I had the wonderful experience of growing up with ponies! They helped make me stronger! ENJOY!
"Kid-Broke Pony"
Have you ever heard the expression, “Kid-Broke Pony”? If you have, can you tell me what it means?
….. I remember when … I was a very young girl, and you couldn’t DRAG me away from the barnyard! The egg gathering was my specialty, feeding the sheep was a treat, not a chore, and best of all, those ponies HAD to be ridden! I spent every waking moment thinking, playing, reading, riding and feeding ponies! We were fortunate enough to have a Mom who loved them as a girl too, so she encouraged my activities with them. We didn’t have the money for lessons, or even a well broke horse, so I learned the hard way! But do you think that ever stopped me? HA! Never even slowed me down!
….. I remember when… The pony bucked me, my neighbor, and even my brother off! All at the same time!! Well, okay, maybe three kids all on one pony all at the same time WAS too many, but then the darn thing ran home and made us all walk!!
….. I remember when… The pony took the bit in his mouth and ran all the way home, with me madder than a bee, clinging to his back and pulling on the reins yelling “WHOA!” to a suddenly-gone-deaf pony! To make matters worse, he thought it would be funny to take my leg off on the gate post on the way by! (But …. He missed!)
….. I remember when… The ponies decided they didn’t want to be caught, and chasing them over 80 acres grew to be an all-day event! But I caught them anyway! NEVER CRY UNCLE to a pony!!
….. I remember when… The pony ran home with my older brother when he was driving him to a cart. Something about a 90 degree turn into the driveway at PONY-MACH ONE, and seeing the pony, the cart, and my brother flipped over against the fence, gave me a healthy respect for driving and control! But since nobody was hurt, I was patting the pony and whispering “Good boy” and things like “Way to go! You got him good!”
….. I remember when… The pony always thought the middle of the biggest mud puddle was the best place to roll and cool off… and for me to GET OFF! And the neatest thing for him to do was to roll in the mud to get a good thick coating of mud, just before I would go out to ride!
….. I remember when… I loved to lay on the side of a hill on a warm spring day, soaking up the sun, and have my pony munching grass next to me. And I loved when I would ride, the feeling of my hair blowing in the wind, and the smell of my pony in the new, clean spring air. All I would worry about was making sure I wasn’t late getting home, or Mom would ground me from riding for a week!!
….. I remember when… My values were based upon episodes of “Bonanza”,“The Big Valley”, “My Friend Flicka”, “Fury”, “Mr. Ed” and “The Rifleman”. My imagination would run wild on the pages of Walter Farley’s “The Black Stallion” series, or Marguerite Henry’s “Misty of Chincoteague”, or many of the hundreds of other books I dreamed in!
….. I remember when… The whole world seemed to be against me. Everyone was against me… everyone except my pony.
….. I remember when… My brother would chase me to pick a fight, and he’d always catch me and beat me up. Except when I was on my pony.
….. I remember when… My parents got divorced. We moved to a different town, a different school, different kids, different classes, a different bus, a different teacher, a different life. But everything was okay again when I got
home and rode my pony.
….. I don’t remember … DRUGS… ALCOHOL… GUNS… KNIVES… SEX… ROBBERY…GANG WARS… TEENAGE PREGNANCIES… SUICIDES… AIDS… DRIVE BY WHAT???
….. I guess you could say that…. I was a “PONY-BROKE KID”.
….. I guess you could say that ….. I was a really lucky kid!