Taffy

Taffy was a tan colored horse about ten years old that had been used to run the barrels and play all the games they do at horse shows. My cousin Buddy Budd bought the horse for his children to ride, but he kept it at my five acre house where we had three acres behind my house. I kept several horses of my own. After a few months Buddy gave Taffy to my older son Barry. Barry was about nine years old. We had a saddle but we enjoyed riding bareback, and we found out that Taffy would allow any of us to ride her without using a head halter, rope or anything to guide her. Barry started out by sitting on a fence hoping the horse would come close enough so he could jump on her back. Once he was sitting in place, the horse walked around stopping here and there to eat a bite of grass or eat hay lying on the ground. Eventually Barry learned a new way to get on Taffy.

Barry threw down a hand full of alfalfa on the dirt in front of the mare. Then he watched the head go down to the ground to eat. Then Barry threw his leg over the animals' neck just behind the ears sitting crouched over the neck and sat backward facing the animal's tail. When the mare lifted her head, Barry slid down the neck to the withers where he turned around to face forward. When Barry was tired he slid down the side of the horse while he held to the mane for balance and to keep from falling too hard. This seemed like a good trick, and I was able to film a movie of it.

I read books about how in old history Arabs taught horses to follow directions without needing bridles to guide them. The horses learned to stop, trot, run, move to the left or right, to rear up, back up or lie down. I wanted to be able to ride like an Indian or Arab without using aids, whips or spurs.

Behind my house was a three acre pasture that sloped down to the bottom and sloped up more gradually to the back fence. One day I selected a flat piece of ground at the bottom of the hill where I built a horse jump. I used two eight foot long four by four posts separated eight feet. I drove long nails on one side of the posts in order to hang a long piece of bamboo for the horses to jump over. I rode each of my horses down there and they all learned to jump the hurdle when it was three or four feet high.

One day I rode Taffy down to the jump without using a head gear, and I was able to guide her by leaning to the left or right. I headed her toward the jump and over she went. Sometimes she knocked the bar down, and when she did, I stopped her. She stood while I replaced the cross bar. I was only forty and strong enough to swing back up on the dun's back where we practiced some more before riding back up to the house. I know I had a lot more fun on that horse than Barry did. A year later we bred her to a champion Arab stallion and a filly was born ten months later.

I sold Taffy to my skin diving friend Tom Berg whose daughter learned to ride on her and eventually, they won ribbons at horse shows.