The other day I went to town get stuff to take with us to the rodeo. I had a list of stuff I needed to get. It seems that no matter how many trips we take in the truck and trailer, there’s always more stuff I need for each trip.
I called Jodi and Connie Ray because they have real good alfalfa. They keep the little square bales I need when we go to a rodeo. I only buy the big square bales for using at the house. I got lucky and one of their family members brought a couple of bales into town for me. Done, check that off my list.
I needed some flashlight batteries, granola bars, water and pop, so I went to the dollar store. It was hard for me, but I didn’t buy the cheapest granola bars. I did that a while back and I didn’t like those cheap granola bars. My horse wouldn’t eat them either.
Several years ago Stran Smith would feed granola bars to Topper as a way to make him bend his head around to each side. He’d kind of tease Topper with a granola bar, it was basically physical therapy for the horse, helping him stretch his neck and shoulders without causing the horse to get riled up. I’ve been feeding granola bars to my horses ever since. I do think it helps them loosen up after standing sideways in the trailer for half of a day or longer. A slant load trailer puts the horse in sideways, that can’t be good for the horse getting knocked around while standing sideways.
Finally, I went to the Heavener feed store. I got a couple bags of horse feed and looked around for a certain type of girt I was wanting. They didn’t have it, no where else in the county has it either, so I guess I’ll have to order it online. I prefer to spend my money locally, the big box stores sure aren’t donating to the local bake sale or ball team.
As I was checking out Terry Lynch came in the store. We got to talking about the big barrel full of meal worms by the front door. Terry reached in and ate a meal worm right in front of me. He said they didn’t taste very good and as he was chewing I could hear a crunchy sound.
I left laughing my head off, I told them I was in a hurry. What I didn’t admit to was I got the dry heaves thinking about eating a meal worm, I just about lost my lunch. The crunchy sound it made when he ate it made me queasy as could be. You never know what you’ll run into at the feed store…….
James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.