Horses As I See Them By Ian McMurchy

[Mikel Sorenson]

This is my first post, when it comes to horses and old cowboys they have been at the top of my list all my life. I've been riding since before I was born. Got my first 1/2 a horse when I was around 5, my brother was 4, he got the other half. Our family has owned and operated a horseback riding stable since 1962 in the Texas panhandle, next to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Horses have been my best friends most of my life, I trained them after school and weekends to buy a 69 z-28 Camaro. I've listened to cowboy stories all my life, and believe that's where most of the common sense is, in this world. Dad is going to be 80 next week and still rides. He called me a few years back, and sounded really sad. He told me that he couldn't get on Prince ( then a 3 year old Arab Stud ) and didn't know what to do. We decided to pray about it. Well, Dad called a couple hours later and said you've got to come see this. When I got to the stables he had moved a hitching rail out about 2 1/2 feet, from a board walk in front of the saddle room. The board walk is about 3" below his stirrup, he just stepped on, and that smile was priceless. We road down into our canyon and stopped at a camp site to rest a minute. Dad looked at me with that same grin and said, when I'm on Prince I'm as fast as I was at 32. GOD is so Good!!!