Horses, of Courses

Horses have been in my family always. This is my Uncle Jim, married to my maternal aunt, Kathrine. He was calvary during WWI when they still used horses. I didn't know them well, but I heard the stories. My maternal grandfather (great-grandfather) was a teamster, starting at a time when the word meant driving a team. I have only vague memories of him since he died when I was four. 

 I don't know who this is, I'm going to assume from my father's side, he came from a family more likely to own Saddlebreds. It's difficult to tell the decade, my guess would be 1930s. The mare's name is on the back of the photo but no date nor name of the man. I will guess he was a Hurd, my paternal grandmother's name.

 My dad loved horses and owned a Saddlebred when he was in high school. They lived in the house that had belonged to my grandmother's parents and it had a small stable on the property. It's because of my father that I was able to have my first horse as a kid. He intervened and I got one. I'm inclined to believe it is genetic, I am more my father than my mother, for which I am very thankful. He had plenty of faults, he pacified and covered for and enabled a sociopathic personality until he died. He had a deep self-centeredness which simply could not allow disruption in his life. So, his son walked out on him as well as her and he never really overcame it. I got the horse gene, his son did not. Which means he probably has a large retirement account! 

My only child has no interest in horses. He wasn't raised with them, my childhood horse died right after he was born and I boarded the horse I got when he was a teenager. So he didn't have exposure. I'm inclined toward the belief he wouldn't have interest in them if he'd had exposure. Ah, well. I more than make up for it. I still have fifteen of the hay gobbling beasts. They are getting old, but doing it better than I am. The thirty year old mare died in December, leaving two twenty-seven year olds the title of oldest. The youngster of the group is a sixteen year old mare. Most are in the twenties. Some people have large families. I have horses.