I told a few lies myself when I was horse trading. It was a great business. One day you ’d have a good horse and the next day you’d have nothing. Oh, you’d get rogued something awful sometimes. But I always watched out that I had a good one to depend upon. N o, no, I wouldn’t buy a bad horse. They were useless. They were either balky or kicky or something and you couldn’t depend upon them. Trade them off; give them to somebody else. Just like buying those second—handed cars. Giving your trouble to some other fool fella. That’s what they were doing.

And you heard about Harry. Oh boy, he’s been at it since he was nine— year—old, I guess. Yeah, many’s the queer night Harry and I had.

Trading with an old fella one time and, oh well, he believed in those witches. We went into his barn, Harry and I did, and he was praying for the horse...and we weren’t to speak. I think it was I that spoke and he said, “Ah, damn it,” he says. “You broke the spell,” he says.

We didn’t get a trade that night. I went up to the horse’s mouth and I says, “My God, there’s not a cup in this horse’s teeth.” Horse, when he gets old, has no cups in his teeth. They’re smooth... Oh boy, couldn’t chew. Some of them lived till they were 21 or 22 but, oh, if they were pastured out a lot they wouldn’t last too long, the teeth. Stones and sand and everything wear their teeth down.

I and another fella went away one day; we bought 14 fox horses. I knew everyone that had old horses down around here.... Some old people wouldn’t part with them though. They’d have to find out what you were going to do with them, whether you were going to fox them or trade them off or give them to somebody that would ill-use them. And if you did [get the horses] you had to be dang cute to tell them what you were going to do with them. Because, if not, you weren’t going to get them, no. We went down to High Bank down there and there was an old couple down there that had a lovely, fat horse, oh, a beauty, a great, big horse. Well, we pretty near had to swear what we were going to do with that horse before they’d give him to us. We got him, though. He went to the foxes.

Hot Mess and Straw

I had two or three horses, light blood horses. I used to have some plugs too, you know, and some very light horses, something that was just like a rabbit that would jump around anywhere. They’d go after the mail themselves if somebody would put the bag in the wagon. They got used to it. Good, yeah. Never seen them neglect for water or oats or hay and I always saw that they were comfortable at night before I went to bed. Rubbed them and bedded

George Young 169