MY CHILDHOOD STORY AND PHOTOS OF THE FARM ! final chapter

Well I have got to say that reminiscing with all these old photos has brought back a lot of wonderful memories. I now know why mum and dad wanted to raise us in the country and I am glad they did . I was the only one left at home as my sister and brother were that much older then me and left the nest when I was only 6 .

                              

My dad built our barn and all our sheds and coops, he was one of those men that couldn’t just sit still always building  making or fixing something.

We lived across from a nice couple named the Rudd's. Mr Rudd was a game warden and he came across this fawn that was  orphaned due to his mother was killed on the road. I fell in love with him and called him Bambi.

                             

                

As I started to get older things around the farm were changing, I had chores to do and more responsibility. I would go hunting and fishing with my father. This is me and our hunting dog Bessie  she was a Hungarian Vizsla  a hunting game bird dog ,We got her from my parents life long friends that also came here from England, they were so close we considered them family. We called him uncle Ted, he bred this breed for many years. She was a great dog, not only for hunting but also for helping nurture our young lambs when the mother died at birth and for fetching the chicks that got lost in the bush, she had such a gentle mouth that not a spot of dog spit would be on them when she fetched them out !

                                                     

                                  Bessie was a great family pet !      

                                  

Dad looks like a Klondike man here the way he is dressed !

                                      

This Banty rooster had one leg the other leg part of it was missing but he was funny, mum called him Alfred and he would hop around crowing all day and really thought he was  da man the stud by the way he would puff himself up around the lady’s !

                            

This is me with my very own dog Toby. My mum and dad got him for me as a birthday gift, he was a small mutt and a great dog he was a rescue dog from a shelter in one of the towns .

I then was given my very own pony the next year in 1979 when I turned 12 as I kept on to my parents that I would look after it and ride it every day, well they gave in as they did for my brother and sister when they were older.

There was a farmer friend that we knew who trained, showed and bred horses, his name was Harold Cunnington one of the best horse men there was around he was kind and loved his horses, he found a nice little pony for me that was cart driven and able to be ridden as well . He was a welsh pony a gelding and a very good boy. Because he was more of a cart horse I had to retrain him how to turn whilst being ridden and not to cross walk like he was pulling a cart  , he did well and finally was able to turn properly every time with out even thinking about it. I then started to train him to jump , but I never used a English saddle I did it bare back as I only had a western saddle , well that was hard as he was stubborn at times and when he didn't want to jump he didn't so lots of spills happened and a few of my ribs were damaged on the jumps but I got right back up and got him to do as he was told and I didn't use a crop either just a lot of me being in charge and us learning to trust one another ! One day when I did have the western saddle on him riding he decided he had a itch on his back and stopped, dropped and rolled with me trapted under him, well that was scary, I finally got free of him before he and the horn of the saddle did any damage to my leg ! But all in all we worked well together.

                 I named him Clyde Zorach Pathos but I mainly  just called him Clyde! Zorach and Pathos were names of famous race horses owned by the Armstrong's that had huge race ranches in the area and traveled all over the world with their trotters and jockey ridden thurobreds !  I used to work with them and their horses from time to time as I knew the Armstrong kids.

                            

Just a few years after I got my pony my mum and dad had to move back to the farming town I was born in as it was getting hard to keep the farm going cause the economy was getting tuff and expensive so  Harold Cunnington the horse men that  found Clyde for me took him back and looked after him till he was at a rip old age. I knew he was in good hands . In 1981 we sold the farm and moved back to the farming town of Brampton and from there on I grew as a teenager , to an adult. The small town was growing fast in to what is now a city and no longer the small farming town I once knew, the entire time I was there I missed the country and yearned to live back in the country and now I am back in the country again for good . Like the song says country road take me home to the place were I belong. I hope to one day get back to hobby farming. My mum and dad did the right thing by me by moving to the farm and raising me to love all the animals and the country side.I will always be grateful for all my parents did for me may they now both (R.I.P )  side by side  together forever!

I hope you all have enjoyed my little story and old photos  of my life growing up on the farm!

                                                        Have a great day!