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Run-away Daughter

In the early 1950's Dad had a bay workhorse named Queen who was about 25 years old; Dad had turned her teammate to pasture because of aging. Queen then started to work with a horse that I hadn't noticed before, but Dad called her Cate and told me that she was a foal from Queen herself. I told Mom I didn't remember any ponies on the farm, but she pointed out that Cate was probably as old as I was.

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In the alfalfa fields during the spring season, the alfalfa is allowed to grow until first blossom shows on the tips of the sprigs. This can be in early or middle June, and at that time the “first” cutting of the alfalfa to make hay proceeds. It turns out that this is also the time period during which small creatures such as rabbits and birds start the current season's crop of baby offspring to raise during the remaining warm period. Sometimes the more naive animals make a home for the young in the middle of the alfalfa field. It seems perfect, of course, nobody ever walks out there after late April, the ground is obscured from view by 6 to 15 inches of alfalfa, water travels is a furrow not 2 feet away, and for green vegetarians, food surrounds your home.

This penchant of some animals to become squatters in the field authored a brief but exciting episode.

In one of my final grade school summers, Dad was proceeding with mowing of alfalfa; and on one particular day he was mowing the third field. The second field had been cut, dried, and wind-rowed and Mom and I and one of my sisters were building shocks from the wind-rows. My memory fails, but I think Barbara or Shirley was the third person. We were shocking near the west end of the field not far from the field that Dad was mowing.

A horse drawn mower is a fairly light weight piece of machinery. It has a six feet hoistable mower bar with a reciprocating blade (powered by horsepower). The remainder of the machine is two wheels, a driver seat, and a tongue to hitch up the horses. Let me note that the seat is just a stamped piece of sheet metal supported on a rolled steel bar. It is centered between the wheels extending as far back as the wheel rims.

Dad had Queen and Cate pulling the mower which was the normal operation in that time period, and the field was partly mowed. Suddenly, there was a noisy commotion; I looked up and saw a pheasant spearing its way through the air far down the field. Cate, was having a full blow adrenalin rush and beginning to move at a gallop. Even Queen, with her ears full upright and forward, was on full alert. I think Mom said it was a runaway and urged that we try to catch them. We all started to move down field at a moderate run because on a furrowed field, we had to be a bit careful. After a few strides of my own I estimated that Cate was outdistancing all of us in spite of the fact that she was a big horse. Dad was yelling Woah and other cusswords and trying to stay in the cantilevered seat which would pitch him side to side on the furrows or up and down on the bumps.

The mower with Dad had traversed more than half the length of the field when I saw Cate collapse in the harness. I thought she had broken her leg, which I knew would mean her death – that was kind of gut-clutching. The three of us arrived within about 30 yards of the mower; Dad had dismounted and I could practically see the corona discharge coming from the top of his head.

Dad eased around Queen's side on the left; Queen was standing there panting after such a wild ride with her daughter. He surveyed Cate and saw that she had her huge rear quarter resting on the wooden tongue of the mower. He must have decided that she didn't seem to be in pain because he took the bridle near the bit, and urged her to arise. Cate complied shortly and there between the two horses lay the splintered wooden tongue – no more mowing with this until repair. Dad unhitched the traces and walked the team back home and I cannot remember if the three of us shocked hay the rest of the day. Later on, I asked about the immediate cause and was told that the pheasant had flushed when Cate was nearly on top of it, flown directly in front of her face.

Anyway, Cate was not calm when unpleasant surprises occurred.