I was interested in the article about the big ranch. I got to thinking how things
had changed. Of course, where I was raised, it was much smaller. However, if we
started out horseback, we went all the way horseback. I wonder how many miles I
have ridden to check windmills, fences, and etc. It wasn\u2019t unusual to ride seven
miles to check on water and then ride seven miles back. We had some thirty miles
of fence to check.

We tried to check one pasture at a time. Once in a while, I would have to ride it all the same day. I would check the south end in the morning, go by the house at noon, change, and make the north end.

I wore the soles off a pair of boots one year just where the stirrups fit. That was
the last year I rode six miles to school and six miles back each day. I rode all of
Saturday and usually part of Sundays and every day all three months of summer.
That was after Granddaddy Knox got to where he couldn\u2019t ride much so I had to
take up the slack. So you see why going horseback riding holds no thrills for me?