As in previous weeks, I
am sharing Jody's conversations. As usual, Jody
has her notecards in hand…
Jody: When I was in
college in Colorado, I was out riding Starboy. I found a nice spot, unsaddled Starboy,
took off his bridle, and began reading a book I had brought with me. All of a
sudden, there were four or five young Mexican men coming towards me. They were drunk,
drinking beer and throwing their empty beer cans at me. I didn’t hesitate, I
jumped on my horse, which I was able to do in those days, and went off down the
hill in a gallop. I thought, the hell with this, I’m getting out of here! I
was riding down into a reservoir area, and I met this guy riding up that I
knew. He started lecturing me, “What in the world are you doing riding bareback,
without a bridle, alone?” I said, “Well, my saddle and bridle are up there…”. He
had a rifle, like many men carried on their saddles in those days. He said, “We’re
going back up there to get your saddle.” We rode back up the hill. The drunks
had knives, they had cut up my books. We weren’t about to go over there, so we
rode to the stable where my friend kept his horse, put the horses in the corral
and went back up the hill in his truck. When we got up the hill, the
drunks had taken my saddle and carried it about halfway to the nearby road. When
they saw us, they dropped it. I suppose they were going to sell it. They didn’t
damage my saddle, it was okay, but my books were all cut up. We gathered up everything
and went home. After that, I sold the saddle. Not because there was anything
wrong with it, I just didn’t want it after that. One of my sorority sisters
admired it and I sold it to her. I just didn’t want to remember that day. Of
course, I had another saddle, an Army officers saddle which I really liked. Pat has it now, along with Pete's saddles.
Years ago, being the
new veterinarian in Athens, Pete was assigned to the local livestock sale. It
was on a Saturday. I walked into the sale and I’m carrying Pat, Jessica was
beside me. I am trying to find Pete. I don’t remember why I was trying to find
him, if I needed to tell him something, or I needed money, I don’t remember. At
any rate, I am asking people where Pete is and I am walking on. Of course,
there were no cell phones then. I must have looked desperate and a bit
determined. I hear this guy behind me, an old farmer, he said, “Well, Doc Smith’s
gonna have to claim them two, they look just like him!” [Jody begins laughing out loud and rolling her eyes]. I told the old guy, “Well, I’m his wife!”
Around that time, Pete had
a client call the clinic with an emergency. The client was concerned that a
rattlesnake had bitten his horse. The client had seen a few rattlesnakes around and was
concerned because his horse’s nose was red and beginning to swell. He was
concerned for his other horses, too. Pete was in surgery and told the guy he
had to wait and that he would be there as soon as he was out of surgery. He
told the guy to keep all of the horses in the barn and to keep the bitten horse
as quiet as possible. Well, the guy didn’t know enough about horses to put all
the horses in the barn. He just put the one horse in the barn and left the
other horses out in pasture. The horse in the barn began to panic. By the time
Pete got there, the horse was down and wasn’t breathing. The horse was still
warm to touch, but not really breathing. Who knows, if the guy had left the
horse where it was with the other horses, it wouldn’t have gotten so agitated
and may have survived until Pete got there. The horse didn’t make it.
This one time, we were
at the Nelsonville theater – years ago when they had a theater on the Public
Square. We went to see a movie about animals, I can’t remember the name of the movie. The
theater was full of mostly kids. Halfway through the movie, we learn that the
veterinarian was the bad guy, he collected animals and sold them to
laboratories for research. Pete was upset. He said, “That’s terrible! They’re
ruining an entire profession!” Every few minutes, he would say out loud,
"That’s terrible.” The kids around us would say ssshhhh and tell him
to be quiet. I’ll think of the name of the movie about 4 o’clock in the
morning. That’s why I keep a pencil and paper by my bed. At any rate, we’re driving home,
Pete’s ranting and raving about how terrible the movie was. I said to him, “Well,
you’re always telling awful jokes about lawyers!” Pete said, “I’ll never
tell another lawyer joke!”
Have a great week ahead.
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