Memory From My Childhood

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My mother and I moved back to Boise(from Pocatello) when I was about 14. Mom found a house for sale about a block from my grandmother's. Grampa had been gone for several years and mom wanted to be sure grandma was taken care of in her last years. We went down to share dinner each evening and I enjoyed grams and being close to her. She lived on until she was 88(died in her sleep in 1987, I was 36). Across from the house Mom and I moved into was open pasture land(It now belongs to the Highway Department) and three horses were pastured there. I loved horses and started picking some clover we had growing and taking it over to them. We made fast friends and I would look forward to seeing them each day after school, and I think they looked forward to me(the clover of course). So, that's how it started. After a while, I got my nerve up and climbed through the fence to formally introduce myself. There was Blackie. He was the largest horse, had quite an attitude, and was brown and black with a dark main. Then there was Charlie, a buckskin. Smaller and very low-key. Sam was pure black and the smallest of the three. I started with just hanging out with them but, I sure wanted to ride one or all three of them. The man who owned them came by two or three times a month and made sure they had food and were okay. He never rode them. He came up to the gate which was up at the end of the lane and fed them there. Our house was about halfway down the road. I never went to the gate. I would just climb in through the wire fence. Finally, one day I got my nerve up and climbed in. Standing there petting them I told them what I planned to do. I moved up to Sammy first. Took ahold of his mane and jumped up onto his back. He didn't stir and as I hit him lightly with my foot and spoke to him he moved forward. I had never had any training on how to ride, just what I saw on the Westerns I watched. No saddle just me holding on to the mane and the horse moved freely as he wanted. I was there to enjoy the animals and if they chose to walk around all the better for my experience. I then got on Charlie and moved around the pasture on his back for a few minutes. When it came Blackie's turn I was a bit nervous. He was bigger and I was a bit intimidated by his size and obvious attitude and my lack of riding lessons. But he let me up and even moved around a little. I'm relatively sure that the lady who lived near the gate told the owner I was riding them. He never said a word to me. I think he was glad they were being ridden and also glad he didn't have to pay anyone to do it. It was plenty of payment for me just to jump up on their backs and have them let me ride for a while. The horses have been gone now for many years, the pasture land was developed into garages, storage units, and a big office building. Rose Street, once a short lane is now a two-lane thoroughfare with heavy traffic getting people from the north side of town over to the more popular parts of the capital city that I've called home for 70 years.