All my life I’ve had a “thing” about horses. In 1953 my dream came true when I bought my first horse. I was working at the Post Office and Sally was a nurse at the clinic, working for Dr. Keyting.

Claude Hazard knew I was looking for a good gentle saddle horse to buy. One day he came in the Post Office and told me about an eight year old mare that he thought was just what I had been looking for. Sam Tooker at Crestone was getting out of the dude business and had this pinto mare that was just plumb dog gentle. Sam was asking $80 for her, which seemed kinda high, but Claude thought she was probably worth it. (Today, a horse of that caliber would easily bring $1800).

When I went home for lunch, I told Sally that I thought it would be fun to prepare a picnic and take our houseguests to Crestone that evening - and if there was time, I’d like to look at a horse.

Sally’s mother, Mrs. Graves and her daughter and son-in-law Harriet and Joe Cooper were visiting from Kansas).

When we arrived at Crestone, someone told me the location of Sam’s cabin, but he was nowhere around. We drove to a place where we had a great view of the Valley and had an enjoyable picnic.

It was nearly dark when we arrived back in town to be told Sam had returned home. I met Sam for the first time and told him what I had in mind. He crawled in the car with us and directed me to where he had a two strand barb wire fence, nailed to a pinon tree, holding several horses.

He made a halter out of a piece of baler twine, which was laying on the ground, and we both rode the mare around and in under the trees. By this time of evening, it was nearly dark. So Sam struck several matches so we could see how beautifully she was marked.

As the two of us walked back to the car, we shook hands and I told him I would be back the following evening to get my new horse.

After leaving Sam off at his cabin and heading back home, Sally’s mom asked if I planned to come back again to look at the horse. My answer was “I don’t need to come back again for another look, ‘cause I just bought her.”  She said, “But you haven’t even seen the animal yet.” “Sure I’ve seen her”, I replied “didn’t you see Sam lighting all those matches?” (I was going by Claude’s judgment, which proved to be great. I got just the kind of animal that every novice should begin with.)