By Gladys McCarthy – Tisdale, Sask.
When I read Gayla Brigley’s story in the June 2012 issue about her and her brothers playing the outlaw game, I was reminded of a very similar happening in my own family.
Our boys had a Shetland pony who was also involved. She was a great babysitter and gentle friend to all the boys. Her name was ‘Strawberry’ and she was a strawberry roan.
The boys were with her and her colt ‘Bonnie’ out in the farmyard constantly and we never worried they would ever come to harm.
One day Harold, age four, came running to the house and he looked really scared. He said that Kevin, age seven, needed us. He was in trouble. We ran to the barn and there was Kevin and he sure did need help.
He was stretched out on tiptoe with a rope around his neck to an overhead beam. Apparently, Kevin was the outlaw and had stood on Strawberry to loop the rope over the beam.
Then he sat down and told Harold to give her a whack, which Harold obligingly did. Thank God that rope was long enough to let him stand on tiptoe until we got there.
We had many good times on the farm with our three boys and went on to new adventures when the boys all joined the 4H horse club and entered racing in later years.
