Almost Disaster Free

Harry Forbes Remembers – 12

We were a family of eleven siblings and our parents. The life we led was a very active one, always working with cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, machinery, and in later years with automobiles.

One day in 1946, Dad saw that one of the neighbour’s heifers had found its way onto our land. Mounting his favourite horse, Dolly, Dad set out to return it to the owner. Harry, although he was visiting with Uncle Gilbert, soon realized that Dad had been away much longer than he should have been. Climbing onto the roof of the barn, he was able to see where Dad was, so he and Uncle Gilbert went by car to check things out.

They found Dad lying in a bit of a hollow. The ground was wet and slippery having caused the horse to fall. Dad’s foot had been caught in the stirrup and his leg was broken. He was able to free his foot, and being a resourceful man, he tied the reins to the stirrup and then tried in convince Dolly to go home. But she was faithful and would not leave him.

The rescuers made a splint from a board they found in the car, and with Dad instructing them, they splinted his leg and were able to transport him to the hospital.

In all the years of our growing up, with so many members in the family, it is surprising that that was the only broken bone that was ever suffered. The only other major catastrophe was when the chickens ate the part of Ralph’s finger that had been cut off.

After Dad and Mom moved to the ranch that faithful saddle horse of Dad’s was struck by lightning. It hit her hips and travelled down her back legs killing her; the hired man saw what happened. That was a very sad day for Dad; he loved his horses. A neighbour kindly gave him a saddle horse.