Kentucky thoroughbreds

Before we left Nebraska to go to school in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, I worked a couple years for a general contractor building houses. Ted pretty well did everything on the house except for finishing the drywall, which he hired out. We dug the hole for the basement, poured the concrete, laid the blocks or the bricks, built the house from the basement up, even stick-built the rafters, built the kitchen cabinets, wired the entire house and on and on. We did it all. Even hung wallpaper.

So when we arrived in Bartlesville I found work repairing homes. I did pretty much everything from small wiring jobs to building decks to repairing roofs. It was enjoyable because every day was different. The only job that was consistent was roofing a double-wide home every couple to three weeks. It took them a couple weeks to build one of the double-wides so every couple weeks we'd roof the two halves of the house. In the summer it was so hot, we'd set up lights and roof all night. Bartlesville was a fun place to live.

Then we moved from Bartlesville to Wilmore, Kentucky, which is just west of Lexington, Kentucky. I was able to find odd jobs such as wallpapering, building decks, repair work and simple odd jobs. When we first moved, Marge worked for McDonald's part-time, but later on found a job working for a church at a town close to Wilmore. As a family we cleaned a bank in Wilmore six days a week. We also cleaned a Wesleyan church in Lexington. But with the cost of school and housing, we still needed a little more income.

I'm not sure if I saw the ad in the Lexington paper or if a friend brought it to my attention, but there was an ad about a horse farm looking for someone familiar with horses to work weekends. So I called and made an appointment to go visit Pillar Stud for an interview. I met the manager of the studs, Mr. Poole, and after getting to know me, I was hired to be the night watchman at the stud farm. I was to start the following weekend, so I showed up at 5 p.m. Friday evening. I'd work 13 hours Friday night from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m. and the same hours Saturday night as well. So I'd be working 26 hours every weekend.

When I first started, all I did was check the studs every hour. I'd walk from building to building checking the studs to make sure they had water and they were OK. Normally, it took about 15 to 20 minutes so I was able to study the remainder of the time. Almost a dream job for a student. Several weeks later, they started having me help bring the studs from the paddocks to the stalls in the barns when I got there in the evening. It was fun. Most of the studs were fairly easy to handle. One wasn't. He was flat mean, and there were only two guys who handled him. It wasn't me.

The studs were in the barns in their individual stalls all night. Each stud was fed several gallons of oats and grain daily, so they definitely felt good. In the morning the grooms fed and brushed and bathed and then turned them out in their own individual paddocks. The studs were brought from the paddocks for two reasons: one was to go to their own stalls in the horse barn every evening, but during breeding season the studs were led to the breeding building to meet with some lucky mare. When you showed up at their paddock with a lead rope, they were standing at the gate ready to go.

In time, they had me help across the road at the yearling barn to bring the yearlings in from the paddocks to their own stalls. The yearlings were easy to handle compared to the studs. There were a couple out of Secretariat and a couple out of Seattle Slew. Most I'd never heard of. One was the son of one of the studs I watched every night. Many of these yearlings would end up at Keeneland at the horse sales. One of the stud colts that we regularly led into the yearling barn brought half a million at Keeneland. By the end of the second night I was worn out and tired.

One evening I drove over to the yearling barn and parked west of the barn. I walked through the barn checking the yearlings, but when I came back out my pickup was gone. It had flat disappeared. I thought it was stolen. Then I noticed that it was at the bottom of a small hill. I must have left the pickup in neutral and out of gear so it had simply rolled down the hill. Not even a dent.

When spring rolled around, my boss had me report at the main barn on the old home place at another location. Rather than watch the studs or help with the yearlings, I was to watch the mares who were to foal. I was to check them all night every 20 to 30 minutes and watch for signs they were going into labor. So at the first sign of labor I was to call my boss, who would then come check on the mare. When the foal was about to be born, they always called the vet. He was there for every birth of the more expensive foals. Mares that were bred to famous studs had unreal expensive colts. Some of the foals were worth a bloody fortune when they stood and sucked.

Marge worked evenings and weekends at McDonald's, so I'd take our boys with me to the horse farm. We'd set up the small portable grill and cook some dogs and marshmallows. I'd fix them a place to sleep all night. One time at the main barn while I was watching the mares in foal, the boys were there to watch a foal be born. The manager of the farm had the boys go in the stall and feel the umbilical cord and get a firsthand view of the whole thing. It was while I was watching the mares in foal that I built my first graphite fly rod from scratch. It is a No. 7 weight, 8-foot fly rod with a wooden reel seat. It's going on 45 years old. One time around Christmas, Marge and the boys went with me to watch the studs, and we stopped at a friend's house who was one of the grooms. Dave and his family lived on the farm in one of the worker's homes. We had some real Kentucky bourbon balls. Marge said they almost took her breath away.

Looking back, my working with the horses was an experience I probably should have paid them to experience. It was a perfect place for me to escape living in town and all the people and go country a couple times a week. I've checked the Internet about some of my favorite studs I watched. My favorite was Sassafras. Really nice horse. He's buried on the grounds of what used to be Pillar Stud. I'd like to go and visit him some day.

Good memories.