I thought of another horse story, including my mom, of course.  When she was a teenager, she and her dad, Wesley Smith, were horse racing 'down the lane.'  That is an old dirt road running north/south along the old house in Dry Hollow. 

She said they raced twice and he beat her both times.  Finally, she asked him to trade horses and race again so she could win.  They raced again and he beat her again, on her horse.  So, the jockey in a horse race does have a lot to do with who wins!  She thought that was a pretty funny story and still wondered how he accomplished that.

Another time, Grandma Annie told them to wash the diapers of the many babies that came along later.  They saddled up, rode to the nearest creek, probably Seekseequa Creek.  They tied all the diapers together and to the horses, then ran the horses up and down the creek until they were 'clean.'  They never told Grandma. 

I have so many horse stories that include my mother, I'm not sure if I've already told this one  Gloria said one day they were driving to Dry Hollow. Mom was riding Peg.  They raced for a while, Gloria said they were going about 35 mph and Mom was keeping up.  All of a sudden Peg, once again notorious for doing whatever he wanted when he was running, took off on a side road and away Mom and Peg went!  She didn't say when they came back, but I bet it wasn't until Peg was all worn out!

Every now and then Peg would throw his head back and come really close to clobbering whoever was riding him.  I think he did hit Pudge once.  He was real tall and had a long neck.  One day, she was prepared for him.  he threw his head back while she was riding.  She had a big stick with her and beat him over the head with it.  He ever did that again.

The grandparents would let us use one of their horses if we would go to Dry Hollow to get them.  We'd usually ride Peg double, get one of their horses, and bring it to our house.  Poncho was a big semi-workhorse size guy.  He was big and gentle.  He was Grandma's horse.  I liked to ride him because he could pace.  One day I went to the corral to catch him to go riding and he attacked me!  I got out of the corral, ran to mom and told her Poncho had gone crazy.  She marched down to the corral with a 2x4.  When he came at her, she whupped him upside the head.  He behaved himself after that.

Mom was so strong.  One day she went to visit her friend Sally Brunoe.  Sally had a big white dog that looked liked a husky cross.  Mom had visited Sally often but when she went to open Sally's gate, the dog jumped at mom.  She gave him the right cross to the head and he got the message.  Leave that woman alone!