At that stage of my life I also liked cap pistols. My favorite cap pistol of all time was the "Fanner 50" I got for Christmas one year. It was nice and shiny and came with a great holster. You could pop the caps either by pulling the trigger or by fanning the hammer. It made a kid feel like a Wild West Gunfighter. It was awesome. You could really make some serious noise with a "Fanner 50."
Shortly after Christmas that year I rode my bicycle out to the farm and took Charlie for one of our more memorable rides. Of course, I had to take my "Fanner 50" with me... I took it everywhere I went. We were inseparable. So off we go for a nice horse ride... Me, Charlie, and my "Fanner 50."
After a bit we got out to the part of the farm where Mr. Eager had put in a little lake he named after his wife. He called it Lake Laura but we always just called it Eager's Pond. I spent a lot of time fishing and swimming there as a kid. It was just across the road from JoRee's Mill Pond... out of sight because it was down below eye level and you couldn't see it from the road. That area is a subdivision now from what I hear.
Anyway, after a bit it was time to ride back to the barn and get Charlie in the barn and ride my Schwinn Wasp back to town. I got on Ole Charlie and we began the ride back to the barn at a leisurely pace. Something came over me and I just had to whip out my "Fanner 50" and pretend I was chasing outlaws or something and so I began popping caps and hollering like a wild idiot... which on that particular day I guess that was a pretty apt description of my actions.
How was I to know that Charlie didn't like cap guns? Heck, I thought everybody liked cap guns. Even the horses in the movies don't seem to mind them too awful much, or do they?
Anyway, when Charlie heard that "Fanner 50" popping caps, all heck broke loose. If we'd been in the Kentucky Derby that day we would have Secretariat look like a pack mule. I mean to tell you that Charlie was "putting it in the wind." It was the most fun I'd had in a while, but when I looked up ahead of us I realized that I had a problem. We were coming up to the highway (Jerry Jones Road) right in front of the dam at JoRee's Mill Pond and our little dirt road dead-ended (came to a "T") right there and there was no way that we were going to be able to turn when we got to the road. "Whoa Nellie!" Charlie had no ideas of slowing down and I wasn't about to jump off that horse... not as long as he was going 90mph... no way. I guess I was going to just have to ride this one out. Or so I thought.
When we got to the road Charlie dropped down about halfway into the ditch on the right and used it like the banking on a race track and made a very, very sharp high-speed turn to the right. Yes sir, that horse made one fantastic right turn. The only problem was that the kid on the horse, me, didn't make the turn with him Nope, when Charlie turned right, I kept going straight. All of a sudden I was flying through the air with my "Fanner 50" still in my hand. It wasn't really so bad until I landed. It knocked the breath out of me and I thought surely I was dying. Really. I thought this was the end. All because a horse didn't like cap guns. I surely never thought this was the way I was going to die. Actually, at that age, I thought I was pretty much immortal. Oh well, what a way to go.
After a bit I was able to breathe and so I stood up. I found my "Fanner 50" and put it back into it's holster and decided that I was going to have to walk back to the barn. My vision was just clearing up and my brain was beginning to function somewhat and that was when I saw Charlie standing just a few feet away from me waiting for me to get back on so we could go home. I think that inside he was laughing at me. In fact, I KNOW he was laughing at me. I guess I deserved it.
Charlie took us back to the barn and I unsaddled him and threw him some fresh hay. Then I got back on my bike and rode the long ride back home. I didn't tell anybody about our famous ride for a few days but I had to tell Mom something because I was so sore I could hardly move for a week. If you have ever busted up your ribs you know what real pain feels like. I was never going to do that again. Nosiree, not me!
Who knew that horses didn't like cap guns?
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