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Lois Caywood Guffy
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My father and mother farmed with horses until into the mid 1940's.
We had two horses at first, they looked much alike One was brown with black hues named Kate. She was of a gentle nature and seemed to always try to please.Tom looked just like her, but was slightly larger. Tom had a mind of his own. Later on we got Bill, a much larger plow horse.
Now, this one really had a mind of his own. Dad placed blinders on him, but he would still turn his head to take a look-see. He was ornery. He would turn his head, so he could see what his blinders did not permit him to see. He was always looking for a reason to stop work.
I remember daddy angrily saying to him. "Bill, I know you don't have to stop" He would feign needing a potty break. Like a kid, he would forget one could count the minutes since he had last done that. He was on constant watch for any kind of break. Daddy was a very patient man, but Bill really tried him.
Horses definitely have a personality. Daddy and mama were good to their horses and completely unharnessed them at noon for a good rest while we and they ate. Many people let them stand. Kate had a colt that we named Pat. He was a Strawberry Roan, almost mauve colored with white mottling. He ran by his mother's side when she worked in the field. He really was a joy to watch. He was so frisky and cute. I used to curry him each evening when mama and daddy milked the cows. He got so he would sidle up to me and would beg for me to curry him. He really got a shiny coat from it too.
I can remember that one never had to use the reins as our horses went down the furrows without any guiding, and sometimes dad would sit a row or two out. Dad often let my sister Lila and I sit on the implement and we really thought we were good. We did not realize the horses did the work and knew just were to go. Old Bill learned if dad was not on the back that he could run into the trees to shade. Kate and Tom always did the right thing.
One day mama and daddy seemed to be keeping something from us, we learned Kate had died out in a field, daddy buried her right where she died. We not only lost a third of our team, but a friend. We cried over the loss. For some reason mama and daddy sold the three horses sometime later, perhaps it was when we got our first steel lug wheeled tractor. We stood in the yard sobbing as we watched a man take Tom, Bill and Pat away in a horse trailer. We did not ask any questions. Mama was never not one to let her inner feeling show, but they did that day.I over heard her say they probably were going to the soap/glue factory. I did not know she was serious until later and my heart was broken.
Mama was an avid animal lover through and through.
All of our animals were well loved and a big part of our family.