Nana's Animals

Haz was quite the horse. He was not quite 2 when we got him so he was only partly trained; not an appropriate horse for a 9-year-old to ride. He was a handsome, proud young fellow but until he was fully trained, he was a handful so I did not ride him a lot until I was a year or two older at which time, he became my main ride. Haz became my horse of choice and we were soon a team. I took Horse 4-H with him, showed him at the fair, took him on many trail rides and worked cattle with him. He was like a lot of horses in that he could sense how much riding experience the human on his back possessed. More than once I watched him put his ears back and begin a dance that is hard to describe but ultimately, Haz ended up rider-less in short order. Dad and mom called it “the crow hop”. I only know of one person besides me who suffered a somewhat serious injury. My friend had zero experience riding and insisted on riding him without a bridle or a halter. Her mistake was choosing to lay down on him, back-to-back rather than crouch forward in order to miss the low-hanging limb that was headed in her direction. When he felt her back touch his, the “dance” began. She went up and over Haz’s back, crashing to the ground behind him, breaking her collarbone. I felt horrible about it and still do. It was totally my bad; I never should have allowed her to try it.

In my mind, Haz seemed to have a short fuse. One winter day, after dad and I finished feeding hay to the livestock, I decided to sit on Haz while he worked on his hay pile. I often did that on the weekends because there was no time for anything extra like that on the weekdays. Our school bus came at about 7:00 a.m. so there was just enough time to dress in feeding clothes, do chores, change into school help with breakfast and walk to the bus stop. On this day, I was sitting on him watching all the livestock enjoy their breakfast. Suddenly, I felt Haz’s muscles getting tense beneath me. That always served as a warning to me to get prepared which meant hang on tight because something is about to happen. Back went is ears, and with a slight hop, I saw him grab a sheep in his teeth and toss it to the side like a rag doll because it got too close to his pile of hay. I couldn’t believe it! The sheep was not injured and quickly found a different place to eat.

Another time, my brother Rick was showing a few of us how he could get on Haz bareback like the Indians did in the John Wayne movies that he loved. Haz was munching on some loose hay that had dropped off the tractor forks from the morning feeding close to the haystack. He continued to eat as Rick grabbed a small handful of his mane back towards Haz's shoulders and up he went. It was pretty cool! I could clearly see that Haz was annoyed at having his eating disturbed as back went his ears and he began a weak version of “the crow hop”. Rick, proud of his accomplishment and obviously pleased that we all had witnessed his triumph, decided to ride Haz with no bridle or saddle around the haystack and back. Off they went. We all kept visiting while we waited for the two of them to reappear. Soon, Haz appeared, trotting over to me in a most confident, almost arrogant look on his face but without his passenger. Once we saw Rick hobbling around from the back of the haystack rubbing his head, we all roared with laughter! Fortunately, the only injury he sustained was a badly bruised ego. Haz had done it again! If Haz did not like it, he would end it. That was my Haz.

Haz seemed to like my hair. It was long, and blonde and maybe it looked like hay to him, I do not know. The goosebumps would travel down my arm and make me giggle as his upper lip would quiver inquisitively as he made his way around my head and neck. I could smell his warm hay-breath and feel the softness of his lips with an occasional prickly feeling when some of his whiskers would poke me. I had to really pay close attention to him when he did this. I tried to ignore him to see what he would do and once, he was nuzzling away at my hair like he was being all loving and sweet when suddenly, he bit down and yanked my head back, taking a nice chunk of my hair with it! I yelled at him and did my best to whack him on the muzzle to make my point undeniably clear that that was not acceptable behavior and could not happen again. By the time I wheeled around to pop him on the nose, he was gone! All I could see was his big behind, tail sticking straight up as he was bucking and snorting while running straight away from me, wisps of my hair in his teeth. He looked like he was laughing and you know what? I am quite sure he was!