My father served in the US Coast Guard during the second world war. He didn't like it much, the environment either being too hot or too cold, with Spartan accommodations. For basic training he was stationed at the Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida. When I visited St. Augustine (I lived in Jacksonville, FL), I once took a tour that included the renowned Ponce de Leon. When the tour guide pontificated about the luxuries of the Ponce, I thoroughly confounded her by announcing that my father had stayed at the Ponce and found it oppressively hot and overcrowded, and the room service that was so poor no one used it. While our guide was sputtering, I mentioned that the U.S. Government had paid for the entire stay, including meals and a host of activities. I added that my father told me that the food was terrible, the worst he'd ever had, and the activities were even worse than the food. I had the tour group's interest by that time, and completed my impromptu lecture by stating that the worst part about his entire stay was that they had some nut that would get up before dawn and blow a trumpet, waking everyone up.
Random scribblings and thoughts about writing, publishing and the entire letters to dollars process. Includes copious notes about politics and everyday life.
Showing posts with label horse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horse. Show all posts
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
While clearing out the familial estate, I discovered a VHS tape that I thought was worth digitizing. This is Bill Emery (my father) riding his all-time favorite five-gaited mare, A Worthy Penny, in the Five-Gaited Amateur Championship class at the Brown County Fair at Georgetown, Ohio.
Dad is number 12 in the class. My mother shot the video, and the man you can hear shouting encouragement is Tommy Clouse, a professional horse trainer and close friend.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the five-gaited horse, I'll offer this: Horses will do three gaits naturally; walk, trot, and canter (gallop or run). The natural gait for a horse when he wants to get along down the road is the trot, which is a little rough to ride. The other two gaits are man-made, and called the rack and the slow-gait. Both of these gaits are smooth and very easy to ride. Horses tend to rack about as fast as they can trot, and slow gait a little faster than a walk.
Dad won the class, and as he makes his victory pass you may note that he holds the reins in one hand while Penny racks. He's showing off a bit, as the other riders would need both hands on the reins to keep their horse at a rack.
Dad is number 12 in the class. My mother shot the video, and the man you can hear shouting encouragement is Tommy Clouse, a professional horse trainer and close friend.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the five-gaited horse, I'll offer this: Horses will do three gaits naturally; walk, trot, and canter (gallop or run). The natural gait for a horse when he wants to get along down the road is the trot, which is a little rough to ride. The other two gaits are man-made, and called the rack and the slow-gait. Both of these gaits are smooth and very easy to ride. Horses tend to rack about as fast as they can trot, and slow gait a little faster than a walk.
Dad won the class, and as he makes his victory pass you may note that he holds the reins in one hand while Penny racks. He's showing off a bit, as the other riders would need both hands on the reins to keep their horse at a rack.
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