THE MOST IMPORTANT RESIDENT OF THE BARN
The barn had many residents over the
years. There were the huge gentle giants, the Belgium draft horses.
Each one would tip the scales at 2000 to 2500 pounds. They were used
for logging in the mountains and farm work like plowing and pulling
the heavy farm wagon. Other residents would be cows and their
calves. A cow with a new calf would often be held in a stall for the
first few days following birth of her calf. If the cow had trouble
birthing she would be placed in a stall for the birthing of her calf.
However the most important resident of
the barn and the longest staying resident was “Chuck,” the gray
horse. No wonder he stayed so long; he got the best rates and the
best accommodations. The other residents had to be productive to
stay there. The draft horses had to do the heavy task of pulling
logs and plowing. The cows had to
birth calves and produce milk. Chuck only had to exist and his
existence continued to endear him to us all.
Chuck was an all- purpose horse. He
was a good riding horse, a draft horse for many applications; which
included plowing, drawing a planting machine, cultivation , wagon,
mowing machine ( which frightened many horses because of the noise
that it made), and logging. In fact he could be used anywhere and in
any situation.
Chuck began his life with the Gibbys in
Swain County, NC when dad purchased him to do farm work about 1928
and about 10 years later the family moved to Clay County. All of the
family belongings including livestock were moved by truck except
Chuck. Homer rode Chuck to his new home from Swaim County, a
distance of about 75 miles, a 2 days journey. He traveled the the
back roads and mountain trails. Homer's keen sense of direction
brought him to his destination on the banks of the Hiawassee River
where he did farm work and pulled logs in the mountains.
A broken promise and a promise
renewed.
Dad, while in Swaim County, rode Chuck
at times (hard for me to imagine because I never saw dad ride on a
horse). This is were dad's endearment to Chuck began. He knew that
he was a special horse but an event one day created a bond that was
unusual between them. Dad related the event to me like this. He had
ridden Chuck to the grist mill to get corn meal ground. On the way
home and upon nearing the house, he decided to take a little
shortcut. To do so he headed his mount up a sloping bank which was
about 4 feet high. Chuck did not hesitate and with quick obedience
he stretched himself and with one leap was up the bank. Then it
happened; the saddle girt was too loose plus the fact that Chuck
stretched his body to make the leap, the saddle swung underneath
Chuck with dad stuck in the saddle. Chuck stopped immediately when
most mounts would have lunged forward. Dad, while still hung in the
saddle saw a cross-tie inches from his head. Had Chuck not have
stopped dad's head would have been smashed into the cross-tie. When
dad untangled himself and got to his feet he promised Chuck that he
would never sell him but would provide for him as long as he lived.
The story moves forward to Clay County
around 1940. Dad now owns a sawmill and has men bring logs to the
mill who were using Chuck and his mate to log. The two men who
worked the team, wanted to own Chuck and his mate and contract the
logging operation. They petitioned dad to sell the team to them and
he finally gave in and sold Chuck and his mate. They continued to
pull logs and worked the horses even harder. That was the broken
promise. Dad no longer owned Chuck and was not taken care of
him.
The men worked the team hard but the
horses had little time to rest after long hours logging because the
men rode the horses several hours at night carrying liquor which the
men sold and drank as well. This caused Chuck to develop a club foot
which is typical of this kind of activity. Dad soon found out about
this and he was heart broken. He remembered his promise to Chuck.
He knew that Chuck would have to be put down or sold to a soap
factory. He couldn’t bear that. The only solution for dad was to
buy Chuck back. Which he immediately did and brought him to the farm
down the river. I remember the day because dad related the above
story and said to my brothers and me; “I want you to take good care
of Chuck, give him the best hay, shelled corn and always at least a
quart of oats and keep his stall clean.” This was the promise
renewed. Chuck lived out his
long life, pampered and loved on our farm.
At
about the age of 27 or 28, Chuck got down on the ground and could not
get up about 100 feet from the barn. Dad knew that this was the end.
He wanted to make it as easy as possible for Chuck so he asked Dr.
Staton the family doctor (there was no vet in Clay County) to come
out and put him to sleep. Soon the life of a faithful friend was
over and the most important resident of the barn was at rest.
What is the
moral lesson in all this? First, We should always keep our promises.
Dad felt that he owed it to Chuck to keep him and take care of him
and indeed he did owe him but he broke that promise. He was sorry
for doing so and was able to rectify his mistake. Second, animals
should never be abused as Chuck and his mate were. I suppose that
every time that dad saw Chuck limping around on that club foot, that
the broken promise came to his mind but a good feeling also flooded
his heart and mind because he had rescued him from a bad end. A
famous preacher of yesteryear used to say.”Do right.” That
advice applies to this story as well.
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