Monday Memoir Dec 20, 1958

 Back to my Sophomore year. Mostly I did not have a lot to say unless I got off on some tangent! So much of life was really quite routine. I was so far out of step with the usual 'teenage' stuff that it wasn't even funny! Right at this point I did not have a huge crush so that limited things to talk about!

Dec 20, 1958

Got up early. Did the chores. Vacation!! Ya hoo!!  Spent the morning stacking wood, working on corrals etc. Old Charley came by. He said he’d seen Charles Ortmann who said he sure wanted a picture of Tina. I’ll have to see if I can’t get him one. Mom got some groceries and mailed off the Burro story. We sawed quite a bit of wood. Did the chores. Perhaps we’ll ride over to Bryant’s tomorrow and perhaps go to Prescott on Monday. Guess I’ll say adios.

School was mostly b-o-r-i-n-g at this point and so vacations were eagerly anticipated even if mostly there was more work at home than 'fun' stuff. I was used to it by now and so far the cowboy girl routine was not too onerous. Getting to ride, especially on my mare who was now pretty well trained and rarely intimidated me although she was quite tall and very energetic, was always a great thing..

Charley Bryant was a local character and a close friend of our family. He was definitely a 'horse whisperer' and my main mentor in learning first how to ride and do things with a horse or mule and later to break and train them on my own . He did not drive a car so rode most places he went although his wife did drive and they had an old car that they used. He had many great stories of his younger days some of which certainly colored my later fiction.

Charles Ortmann was the man I had originally gotten Tina from as an eight month old filly early in 1956. At the time I got Tina, he was working for Duane Miller out on the DK Ranch to the east of the valley but by now was around Cottonwood working for various people we  knew. He was a peculiar cowboy having once been a concert violinist of some renown. Why he left that profession I never knew. He did not seem to have any injury that might preclude playing a violin  but had obviously changed careers. Well, classical music was not competing well with rock 'n roll! He did come by a time or two and I gave him a photo or even several but he never seemed pleased with them. I am not sure what he expected! And I am not sure if he still owned her mother or not. I do not recall mention of her in those days.

At this point Dad was sort of making a living as a writer, mostly stories of men's' outdoor magazines  like Field and Stream and Sports Afield. I dimly recall a tale that had burros in it but the specifics are long gone. I do not think it sold but I am not sure. By now we knew another sibling was on the way and it soon became essential to have a better source of income! Baby brother Alex was born May 17, 1959.

Photos: This was in summer 1957. Charley Bryant and me; I think we were going to the Sedona Rodeo. Next is Tina and me about the same time;she was in training and using a hackamore bridle instead of an iron bit in her mouth. Next is Charley again, on one of the houses he trained for a local wannabe cowboy. and finally Tina  as a mature mare, probably 8 or 9 and carrying her first colt. She was 16  hands(16 x 4 to get inches or 64" high at the withers). For reference I was 68" at that time or 5'8" . She weighed about 1000# in good shape and had a lovely red-bay coat.