{"id":16686,"date":"2021-09-22T00:15:01","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T00:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=16686"},"modified":"2021-09-21T19:16:42","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T19:16:42","slug":"parting-with-his-saddles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/22\/parting-with-his-saddles\/","title":{"rendered":"PARTING WITH HIS SADDLES"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bryce Angell – The outdoors has always been a large part of my life. My father was an outfitter and guide for 35 years and I was there to shoe and care for the horses and help him do the cooking. We took many great trips into the Yellowstone area. Even now that I\u2019m older, we still ride into the Tetons, Yellowstone and surrounding areas. My poems are mostly of personal experience. I am now retired and enjoying life to the fullest. I plan to do more riding and writing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I stood next to my aging father, of ninety-seven years. He looked around the saddle shop. His brown eyes shed some tears.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cToday\u2019s a dark one, but for you the sun will shine. For sure I ain\u2019t no young one. Seems I\u2019m runnin\u2019 out of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The saddles held a precious memory of my father\u2019s life. Again, I felt as proud back when he gave me my first knife.<\/p>\n

He reached, then gave a tug, and pulled away a dusty tarp. He knew the saddle\u2019s history, and his mind was razor-sharp.<\/p>\n

He pointed to a saddle. Said, \u201cWhile fighting off at war. My father bought it for me, back in 1944.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cAIthough it ain\u2019t horse worthy. It doesn\u2019t seem quite fair. Cuz there oughtta be a use for this old saddle somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pulled another saddle. Said, \u201cRemember my friend, Fred? This was his favorite saddle. Now old Fred is long since dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

My father stretched, then slid the final saddle off the rack. A Heiser Denver saddle was the finest of the tack.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe I\u2019d ever seen this saddle in the shop. He said he\u2019d used it years ago on a bucking saddle bronc.<\/p>\n

A Heiser highback saddle right before my very eyes. My father showed excitement. It was more than just a prize.<\/p>\n

And then his voice got louder in an old man\u2019s sort of way. \u201cI\u2019d like it if you\u2019d use it in your saddle shop display!\u201d<\/p>\n

So, I gave the saddles life and placed \u2019em on a pine tree log. Now my grandkids sit the saddles and it\u2019s where they play leapfrog.<\/p>\n

We both agreed, I\u2019d put the saddles where the crowd would meet. \u2018Cuz soon they\u2019ll all become a brand-new barstool saddle seat.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span>\u2013 Bryce Angell<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I stood next to my aging father, of ninety-seven years. He looked around the saddle shop. His brown eyes shed some tears. He said, \u201cToday\u2019s a dark one, but for you the sun will shine. For sure I ain\u2019t no young one. Seems I\u2019m runnin\u2019 out of time.\u201d The saddles held a precious memory of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-cowboy-poetry","7":"category-commentary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16687,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16686\/revisions\/16687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}