Polo Ponies
One of my jobs as a kid in High School was to exercise the 5 polo ponies
owned by Julian Ralston, an attorney who lived on the
SE corner of Greenwich Road and Central. In addition to groom ing and cleaning them, I would ride one horse and
lead another. Then I would ride a different horse and lead two. That way all five would
be exercised in one work period. I did this daily for the whole summer. Each loop was about 1 ½
miles. I would have to walk it once, trot it once, gallop it once, then
trot it once more, gallop it once and then walk it once. Total of about 10
miles per set of horses, or 20 plus miles a day, leading or
dragging those blasted polo ponies.
If Julian had a
polo game, I would not exercise them, but rather would ride them to the
Fairfield Polo grounds for him to play the game. The Fairfield Polo grounds
in those days was west of Oliver on 17th Street about ½ of a mile.
(Currently on the Wichita State Campus.) I used to think
that ride was scenic and interesting as riding west on 13th at about Rock road
you could see for miles off to the west. No trees then or blacktop…just
sand road, and it seemed to me as a boy like ”tastes of the old west”! Julian
would have a polo game about once a week. That was a 15 mile round
trip, plus walking the horses between “chuckers” to cool the horses during
the game.
I certainly got
my fill of riding that summer. It was a lot more like work to saddle,
lead, drag those stupid horses around for someone else than it was to be on
my own riding somewhere I might choose to enjoy.
When I got thru
that summer with what I thought was going to be a dream job…I could not have
been happier.
Harvesting
One summer, I helped in the wheat harvest for a neighbor who owned and used a
"Separator". Separators were used before the invention of combines.
They were stationary when used, and driven by a belt from a tractor. The
grain shocks were brought to it, pitched in, and then the machine separated the
straw blowing it out one end making a hugh stack of straw, while the grain dropped out the center to be scooped
up. My job was to load a hay rack pulled by a team of horses. I took the
shocked wheat and drove it to the separator. What I remember most was the
extreme heat of the job, and the great food that all the farmers’ wives fixed for the noon
meals. Pitching the shocks of wheat onto the wagon, on the north side of a
hedge row, was horrible, with no breeze at all from the wind coming typically
from the south. Eating the noon meal out in the yard, prepared by some of the
finest cooks in the world, as far as I knew, was out of this world. Fried
chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, tomatoes, cantaloupe, corn on the cob,
roast beef, home made ice cream without limit, pies, cobblers…..setting in
the shade, with a breeze….ahhhh! There was no air conditioning equipment in
houses or cars in those days, so shade and a breeze was as good as it could
get!
I did find a couple of pictures that remind me of that job.
The binder pulled by a team or tractor mows the wheat, ties it into
bundles, dropping the m on the ground. The bundles are stacked together by a
couple
of men or boys into “shocks” of wheat. This lets the wheat dry out with
minimum damage by rain or weather until they are picked up days or weeks
later and pitched onto
a wagon to be driven to the Separator.
These
men
are standing on a load of loose hay pitched up on the hay rack. I have done
this, but what I am talking about here, is pitching shocks of wheat
on to the same type of wagon.
 The hayrack with the shocked wheat is driven up beside the
separator. They had a couple of men to pitch the shocks in to the rumbling
machine. The tractor was an old 15-30 that sat there with the steam coming
out of the radiator, and the straw shooting out of the separator making a
huge stack of straw.
Cranking the Fordson
We owned a “Fordson” tractor like this. As I remember, my father had
paid about $15.00 f or it. I was the only one in our family that could
get it started. My dad didn’t have the patience required, and my brothers
were not strong enough to crank it. The box on the left side of the engine
held four coils in it that were extremely temperamental. They provided the
“spark” for the plugs to fire, and if they had any moisture on them, in them
or around them, they would not spark…and the engine would not start or run.
I would heat these coils in the oven to dry them out in moist or cold
weather, before I would even try to start the beast. Looking at this makes
my right ear hurt as I remember the many times my hands slipped off of the
crank and I banged my ear against the metal of the radiator. These were
dangerous things to crank, as they frequently “kicked back”, and the reverse
flying crank would then break your arm or anything else it hit. We used
this tractor to pull the manure spreader and also to plow. If it would run,
it was better than the team of mules for sure.
Yee Haw!
Another job of antiquity that I remember as a youth was the time I
plowed a 3 acre lot with a team of mules. Now that may not seem like much
today….but those mules were BIG and the plow was HEAVY.
 Mules
are not known for their good nature, but the pair which the farmer borrowed
for the job were friendly enough. Handling a plow, keeping it upright,
walking on the ground as it is being turned, having the reins of the team
draped around your neck, while shouting "Giddi Up" or "Gee" or "Haw" or "Whoa" is no small
feat for a 14 year old boy. Clue….don’t bend the mules ears when you
put on the bridle…Another clue…..always watch the hind feet and try to keep
your distance! You may have heard the saying “It kicks like a mule”. That is
not only colorful, it means a lot to anyone who has worked with them.
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