Tail of a Tale

Tale of a Tail
©Ken Harris 2008

Legend was not a very intelligent horse. She made up for her lack of intelligence by being stubborn as a pig. Joanne and I have many Legend stories that could start out with these sentences.

One of her little quirks was her reluctance to cross water. Not just reluctance. Oh, my, no. Aversion, intransigent refusal, outright turn red in the face and pound her four heels on the ground refusal.

We’re not talking significant water here. We’re talking puddles, creeks, damp pavement. Any time we encountered water, there was going to be a fight. Legend was stubborn.

But Joanne was stubborner.

She decided that she had put up with Legend’s temper tantrums long enough and the next time the two of them met water, Legend would cross it or die.

The test was not long in forthcoming. We were both riding near the San Gabriel River bottom when we came to a puddle. It wasn’t even a big puddle, maybe six inches of water. Fetlock deep. There was an 18” bank on either side of the puddle. This was not a formidable barrier.

Legend, naturally enough, refused to cross the water. Joanne put a loop of rope around her neck, not a hangman’s noose, although we considered that option from time to time. She then used the same rope to throw a half hitch around the mare’s nose. Then Joanne crossed the puddle, put the remainder of the rope behind her and sat on the bight. When she did that, the half hitch contracted, inflicting pain in Legend’s nasal area and restricting her ability to breathe. As Joanne exerted pressure on the rope, Legend pulled backwards, exerting more pressure on the rope and further restricting her efforts to breathe. Did I mention that Legend was not bright?

Legend still refused to cross the water in spite of all Joanne’s encouragement, so she asked me to pound on the mare’s rump with a quirt. I set to my task with vigor and Legend reared up, protesting this assault on both ends. As she did so, the bank gave way and gravity exerted its inevitable effect. Legend fell and landed on her tail. Great was her pain, great enough to make her cross the water.

Joanne thought Legend had broken her tail because when she finally stood she had a hump in her back like a camel and her tail was tightly clamped down to her body. Fortunately the tail was not broken. Legend recovered from this little contretemps, but she never again resisted anything so strenuously. And she always crossed water, but sometimes under protest.