FLYING SAUCERS

 

I wasn’t about to let anything like freezing weather and snow keep me from riding my horse.  I had thermals to wear under my jeans, a couple pair of thick socks and a ski mask with the eyes and mouth cutout making me look like I was ready to stick up the closest convenience store.  Besides, I was going to use the snow to my advantage.  We didn’t have any decent hills near our home to sled down, so I had the brilliant idea of pulling my brother through the snow on my horse.  I could picture us, Cherokee’s mane & tail flying as he galloped through the snow.  His hooves tossing up glittering bits snow while my brother was sitting on his brand new silver flying saucer enjoying the ride.

 

We couldn’t get off of the school bus fast enough.  The snow was deep, the sky was clear and we were going to have some fun horseback riding and sledding.  I was out to the barn in a flash, saddling up Cherokee, careful not to get any of his long winter coat caught in the cinch.  I need to point that out because of all the westerns I had ever watched on television and in movies when their horses trudged through snow and blizzards, they looked nothing like the Wooly Mammoth my horse turned into when the weather started getting cold.

 

I slid my foot into the stirrup, mounted and walked Cherokee over to a stump where my brother was standing.  Keith climbed on behind me, holding the round, metal saucer in his right hand.  I brought along about twelve foot of dog tie-out chain with a good-sized chunk of clothesline rope added to give us some extra length.  We looked like Gladiators heading across the street to conquer the open field.

 

We reached the area behind the road-front businesses and Keith jumped down with his saucer.  I uncoiled the chain/clothesline concoction and he fastened the chain end to the handle of his saucer.  He sat in the center, legs crossed and I urged Cherokee ahead slowly.  The slack was taken up and I looked back to see my brother with a big smile on his face as we headed across the field.  I urged Cherokee into a faster gait and looked back again at my brother.  It was one of those perfect Norman Rockwell Americana scenes until Cherokee looked back and saw something was following him.  I was too busy feeling smug to notice he didn’t share our enthusiasm with our winter outing.  Cherokee started to go faster without any encouragement from me.  He looked back again and realized he was being chased.  He turned a little to get a better look and didn’t like what he saw.  That’s when he started to buck.

 

I came out of the saddle fast.  I still don’t know if I hit my face on the saddle or on my knee, but it hurt like hell as I tumbled through the air and landed face first in the snow.  I remember thinking how good it felt to be lying in the snow.  The cold seemed to caress my face and beckoned me to close my eyes and stay awhile until the thought of my horse standing unattended in the field with a busy road between him and home brought me around like a slap.

 

I sat upright and my brother was walking towards me, asking if I was OK.  I saw Cherokee standing and looking at me.  Instead of remaining as calm as my two cohorts, I went from being semi-conscious into a state of hysterics in two seconds flat.  I started screaming at my brother to get my horse before he took off and got hit crossing the busy road.  Keith turned and started running towards Cherokee and the rodeo began again.  I can still see my horse running and bucking through the field with the flying saucer bouncing and becoming air-borne behind him.  

 

I gathered myself up and started heading slowly for home, afraid of what I might find when I reached the road.  Keith came walking back and reassured me that Cherokee had made it home safely.  I had been so concerned for my horse I’d forgotten about the pain in my face until my bother took one look at me and advised me to clean off my face with the snow.  My cheek felt as if it had somehow managed to get pushed halfway past my right eye.  My nose and mouth were bleeding and my lip was stiff. 

 

I can only imagine the terror my mother must have felt seeing my horse gallop through the yard and back to the barn without a rider.  I’m very proud to report that she removed his bridle and put him in the barn before leaving the house to check on us.  A quick trip to the emergency room proved nothing was broken and no stitches were needed. 

 

I went to school the next day with two black eyes, a swollen nose and a fat lip.  That might have bothered some teenage girls, but not me.  Fortunately, big sunglasses were in style and they covered up my black eyes.  Plus, I was never much of a frilly, home coming queen kind of girl.  I liked to compare myself to Calamity Jane.   Not the real one that was a drunk and a prostitute.  The pretty one that Doris Day played in the movie.  The one that cleaned up really well, turned into a beautiful woman, got to marry handsome Wild Bill Hickok and sang “Secret Love” while riding a black horse.  As a matter of fact, I probably owned as many dresses as Calamity Jane.  Besides, this wouldn’t be the first black eye I went to high school with.  I’m actually surprised that they didn’t come up with one of those yearbook titles for me “Most Likely to Have a Black Eye”. 

 

I rode through that field a lot before and after the flying saucer incident.  It was the safest way to some unpaved back roads, to my best friend’s home and to some nice trails that ran along the river.  I know when Cherokee made it safely to the barn he was no longer dragging a flying saucer, but during all of my travels through that field, I never did see it again.  Like most flying saucers you hear about, it simply disappeared. 

 

© 2012 Kristie Allison

 

 

 

 Oh what a great story!  I really enjoyed reading that.  Thanks for posting!

horsecrazyinaz:

I liked to compare myself to Calamity Jane.   Not the real one that was a drunk and a prostitute.  The pretty one that Doris Day played in the movie. 

I LOVE that movie, I own most of the songs! I'm often compared to Calamity Jane (movie version) and have earned the title 'Calamity Rene of the Northwest'. :) Great story, thanks for sharing. I enjoyed your other one, horse crazy, as well. Keep on writing!

:)

yikes, been there, done that.  these ideas seem so good initially, don't they?

too bad not everyone envisions the same outcome that we have in our head.....hahahha.

Hi Horse Crazy in AZ,

 

I loved your story and was right there with you through the whole ordeal! Can't say i've ever done anything like that, but it souinds like something I would have tried.

Happy riding,

Janyse 

 

Really cute, well written story.  I noticed the story was posted in February 2012 and the id who posted was removed by the administrator.  It seemed like a professional writer's work, not a teen-ager's prose.  Is that why the poster was removed?

 

NWBuckskinLvr:

 I noticed the story was posted in February 2012 and the id who posted was removed by the administrator.

horsecrazyinaz is still a member, although she hasn't visited the forum since May 28, 2012.   Also the copyright information at the bottom of the post is the same as the information in the users profile - Kristie Allison.

Where are you seeing that the id has been removed? I just clicked on the user name next to the original post and it took me to the profile.

"Deactivated User Account

Hmmmm - when I got to the Control Panel and try and bring up the user that way, it's not finding her, but when I click on her name next to her post, it takes me to her profile.   Weird.

About Kristie Allison

Kristie Allison grew up in San Diego, California and Southwest Michigan with a love for all animals. She acquired her first horse at age sixteen and successfully trained her second horse two years later. Her colorful career history began with a job working for the Forestry Service after graduating from high school. The following summer she worked as Head Wrangler for a dude ranch in Montana until the job fizzled out in the winter. To keep connected with the horse industry, she took an apprentice job at a leather repair shop and worked for a couple of stables in Michigan before returning to college to study Business Administration. Kristie married her childhood sweetheart in 2002 and moved to Arizona. She and her husband operated “Carefree Gardens”, a nursery and pond supply facility where they also maintained a non-profit bird rescue organization. At one point, the nursery housed close to 100 birds including Macaws, Peacocks, and a wild roadrunner that would follow Kristie around the nursery waiting for the mice she chased out of the bird aviaries. In addition to the nursery, she organized a garden club, co-authored weekly newspaper articles “Ask The Carefree Gardener” and hosted a weekly radio talk show with her husband. After selling the nursery in 2006, they founded “JimmyKristie Productions” where Kristie worked as a Producer and was instrumental in the production of “The Carefree Gardener” which was syndicated nationally and internationally. Currently, Kristie is self-employed and lives with her husband, Craig, and rescued dog, “Bandit” in Arizona. Kristie still maintains her loves of animals and has been involved with various dog and horse rescue organizations.

 

I know that some time back, in an effort to purge the system of all the spammers that were flooding in, they implemented some kind of script to hide accounts that hadn't been used in forever.  It's very possible that actual users (versus spammers) got caught up in the same purge.

 

 

 Oh - I must have typoed when I tried to find her in the Control Panel -- I see her now.

Yes, I received the same response as FH.  Too bad she isn't active on ES.  Her story was very entertaining.  I think you must have elite powers the masses do not Jayne.

What a great story! It made my day. It's snowing here.....hmmmmmm.