{"id":19827,"date":"2023-07-26T00:10:18","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T00:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=19827"},"modified":"2023-07-25T19:12:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T19:12:26","slug":"my-fathers-saddles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/26\/my-fathers-saddles\/","title":{"rendered":"MY FATHER\u2019S 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 aged father, of ninety-seven years. He looked around the saddle shop. His brown eyes shed some tears.<\/p>\n

The saddle shop is where my father kept the tack and gear. The smell of leather wafted a memory of a yesteryear.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s where my father taught me more than leather-goods repair. I could hear his words of sound advice still hanging in the air.<\/p>\n

He was parting with his saddles and was giving them to me. The shop would be an empty room, so full of history.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He said, \u201cToday I feel the darkness, but for you the sun will shine. Mother Nature\u2019s got my number and she\u2019s run me 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, \u201cThe saddle ain\u2019t horse worthy, but it doesn\u2019t seem quite fair. There oughta be a use and could you find that use somewhere?\u201d<\/p>\n

He pulled another saddle. Said, \u201cRemember good ol\u2019 Fred? This was his favorite saddle. Now 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 Denver high-back saddle right before my eyes. My father showed no interest but to me more than a prize.<\/p>\n

So, I gave the saddles purpose. They\u2019re now in my workshop. My grandkids sit the saddles and I pray they\u2019ll never stop.<\/p>\n

I told my dad I\u2019d put the saddles where the crowd would meet. Now four of those old saddles are a brand new barstool seat.<\/p>\n

Each saddle shows the years of wear. You wonder, were they ever new? But they jog my memory of a man who was cowboy through and through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I stood next to my aged father, of ninety-seven years. He looked around the saddle shop. His brown eyes shed some tears. The saddle shop is where my father kept the tack and gear. The smell of leather wafted a memory of a yesteryear. It\u2019s where my father taught me more than leather-goods repair. I […]<\/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-19827","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\/19827","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=19827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19828,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19827\/revisions\/19828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}