Big Horse with a Wire (short story)

Big Horse with a Wire
(Minnesota State Fair Grounds, 1961)


University of Minnesota Veterinarian Farms


I almost feel embarrassed telling this story, but I feel I must, sad as it might be. I was fourteen-years old when it happened, with two of my friends, Jerry and Donald. We had been to the State Fair, which was going on, it was August, and underneath a fence at the end of the fair grounds, was the University of Minnesota Veterinarian Farms, where they took care of sick horses, and cows, and so forth and on. I didn’t know this at the time, and was oblivious for most of the time this episode in my life took place. But it took place, and I remember it quite well, and that in itself tells you something, perhaps never to repeat it again. God has given us many gifts, life for us humans, life for the growing earth, and life in the animals, and they are all sacred I feel, in the sense, they are God’s creation. And to be used accordingly, be it dog, cat, horse and so forth. And so this is where this story is coming from. I shall have Rosa tell you the story on my behalf, Rosa my wife.

The Story

“Come on Dennis, grab onto the rope around the horses neck,” cried Jerry.
The horse was massive, and the three boys, Donald, Jerry and Dennis, had slipped under the State Fair fence, into the University corral, where a huge horse was, I mean huge, massive his back was the size of a surging whale, and when he galloped from one side of the corral to the other, like a storm, a local beast, wild eyed he was, and with slashing feet, he cut himself a few times on the barbed wired fence.
Dennis grabbed the loose rope while Donald calmed the horse down.
“I’ll heap you up on it,” said Donald, it seemed to be ten-feet high to reach his back. And once on his back—but for a second—Dennis slipped off the horse, and trying again, he again slipped off the horse, now twice, rolling from one side of the bare bake horse to the other onto the ground, and with a flushing face, trying to get up and pretend he was not in pain.
Again the horse took off, galloped into the nearby fence without any reduction at all, as if he couldn’t see the fence, or perhaps didn’t care. A crazy horse you might say. He slammed himself into the fence, as all three of the boys stood still watching it happen, shaking their heads as if puzzled, not knowing what was going on with the horse.
One sleeve of Dennis’ was ripped, a cut on his forearm, perhaps when he had taken one of those two falls; he wiped the August heat off of his face with the shirt, and noticed the horse was breathing pretty heavily.
“Jerry,” said Dennis, “what the heck is that tube and wire doing in the horse?”
Jerry looked at Donald, “You know?” he asked, then Donald looked at the fence, it said “University Veterinarian Farms,” and told Dennis and Jerry to read it.
“Maybe they are doing some kind of experiments with this horse, I mean look at the tube, it is inside the horse’s skin (and so it was, and it extended outside of it by three inches, you couldn’t miss it, it was although on the right side of the horse), and the wire on it must attach to something else,” said Donald.
“I got to ride that big boy, no matter what, he threw me off twice,” said Denis.
Dennis went on chasing the horse around the corral, caught him again, and Donald looped his two hands together, pushed him up and onto the horse, and the boy in a diminutive way with overalls, tightly squeezed his legs around the wide back of the horse, almost ripping the overalls in the crotch area.
Now the horse resisted galloping, and Dennis wanted him to, “Mama Mea,” cried Dennis, “Now what!”
The sun was almost on top of them, you could fry an egg on the fence posts. Now the horse started to produce a rapid beat with his hind hooves as if it wanted to buck Dennis off, but it didn’t, and then it did, he went flying in the air this time, and at that very moment a man came out of the barn yelling and screaming,
“These are sick horses, you boys get out of here,” and he was running slowly toward the boys.
“Is that a fact” said Dennis, with a bit of sarcasm; he was really hurting this time, as if he broke a bone in his butt, the ground was not soft by all means. But he jumped up to his feet lively enough, looked at the horse, “Well, let’s hightail it out of here, before we got to beat the old man up, and I don’t want to do that, and the horse he’s had enough I guess,” and they all three dashed to the fence.
“And if I see you boys again, I’ll hogtie you to the fence and…!” and he said no more the old farm hand, and took the horse by its rope and led him into the barn.

Written: 5-26-2008