HORSES THAT WERE SPECIAL
I am sure that there are many people who think that all horses look and act alike. Nothing could be further from the truth. Horses are a bit like people in that each one has a different personality and tends to do his job in a distinct way. Some are not the least bit responsive while others respond readily to their riders.
The one horse that stands head and shoulders above all others in my memory was Fox. He was the idol of our family and able to do most anything that was asked of him. Dad bought Fox and Snip, who were half brothers, from a rancher who lived on the Agua Chiquita in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. Fox was about a year old when we got him and Snip was about two. At nearly the same time, Dad bought Maude, a big work mare, and he also bought Tony and Red from Marvin Lane, a horse trader. Tony and Red had unsightly brands on their right hips. Their brands were the owner's name LANE and took up most of the room on their hips. All five of these horses came to Arizona with us when we moved here in 1920. Maude and Snip were work animals. Fox and Tony were saddle horses while Red was used in both roles.
Fox, the star of the bunch, was special because of his intelligence. Dad broke him when he was very young and did not really give him a chance to pick up any bad habits. He showed great promise as a colt when it became obvious that he enjoyed driving cattle and when he quickly understood the purpose of a rope. He also became expert at cutting cattle when a herd was being held. No animal could escape him when he decided to "cut" that animal out of a herd. That understanding carried over to sheep, goats, turkeys, chickens and all groups of animals. Just show Fox the animal you wanted removed from the herd and then sit there and watch him do the job. He was really amazing.
Fox had a few irritating traits that sometimes bothered a rider. For instance he would shy at a black stump and jump sideways when he suddenly saw one. He never did this when Mother or one of the young kids was riding him. He would never make a sudden jump but was most considerate of his rider. He was just broken to ride when Floyd and I rode him to school in Cox Canyon. When we started home at the end of the day we forgot to tighten the cinch and when we leaned over the saddle turned! Off we went! Fox was understandably frightened to have the saddle under his belly so he started running up the road kicking the saddle to pieces as he went. Finally the remains of the saddle came off him and Fox came back down the road to check on the condition of his late riders. Needless to say, his riders were not in the best of shape since the saddle was a new one and we knew that a cowboy who did damage to his equipment by being careless would be held accountable. We were.
Not long after the saddle-turning incident a local character tried to buy Fox from Dad. He offered $500 which was an unheard of price when you could buy a good horse for $40 at most. Dad would not sell so the character said he would shoot Dad in the back and take Fox
