Don't rein in talent

INDIANOLA, Neb. — Living on a farm and having horses was always something that I thought I wanted growing up. My dad never let me have a horse because he thought my interest would wane.

The first horse we ever brought home was named “Brownie.” He was a proud cut gelding which Tom really liked but he was too much horse for me at the time. He pranced and danced a lot, but Farmer Tom could get him to do almost anything with cattle.

We eventually bought a three-year-old gelding at a sale in Valentine. Those cowboys made any horse look broke.

I had to take the horse to a trainer for more miles and once was riding him to help bring the herd up to sort. There was an Angus bull that was plodding along at a pace too slow for me. There happened to be a steep embankment along the path and when I tried to push the bull along, he decided to put his head under my horse’s belly! As luck would have it, the side of the embankment actually kept us from toppling over.

I’m not sure whether Bud or I was more frightened. He did learn to deal with cranky bulls, but he never got over the habit of “bucking”!

We’ve had a lot of quality horses over the years, and I became much better at riding and teaching our kids the fundamentals of horse care. Two of our girls became Rodeo Queens and all the skills it takes to be good at that. Our other two daughters liked to ride but not in rodeo competitions, and they both became Homecoming Queens, so I think those social skills are learned at home!

With the “woke” opinions going around these days, there are those who don’t want kids to be Valedictorian, Queens, Champions in anything really because they want everyone to be “equal”! I say some of us excel at different things so let everyone be good at things they love!

Have a good one!