Tractor Genes

Herewith a recently acquired photo from Big Ian dated June 19th, 1954, wherein Our Hero forsakes his trusty mount for a more advanced form of horsepower.  Jim Arnold showing Yours Truly the finer points of heavy machinery at 229 - 39th Ave. SW in Calgary.  Now we know where David Jr. (and Alex) get their affection for John Deere!  (Although this is probably a Cockshutt!)

Susan and The Horse

In this just-discovered old photo from Big Ian, my sister Susan is getting her first riding lesson at age 1 1/2 on Jim Arnold's farm at 229 - 39th Avenue SW, Calgary.  The date is June 15th, 1954.  (Of course the guy holding her in the saddle is Yours Truly, by then a seasoned pro rider.)  Her equestrian education (and mine) was to continue years later in Lethbridge on a farm where the Lethbridge College now stands.  Yahoo!

Sigurd and The Horse

Continuing with our Calgary Stampede theme of The Horse, I am reminded of my father's oft-told encounter with a sick horse in Coaldale, AB.  I don't know what other equine encounters he may have experienced during his lifetime other than sitting on the milkman's trusty steed in the above picture c.1924, but knowing him I think he tried to gloss over his own father's previously mentioned equestrian abilities and generally eschewed contact with four-legged creatures of any genus whenever possible.  As the city's only cardiologist at the time, one day he received a call from a veterinarian who had imported a very expensive stallion from, I think, Poland, for stud purposes.  The vet suspected that his prized pet had since developed some sort of cardiopathy which over time was worsening.  In point of fact, "Petrushka" or whatever the steed's name was, became listless and uninterested in fulfilling his sperm donor duties.  The vet's financial investment in the stud was thus in danger.  Dad was the proud custodian of a brand-new portable electrocardiograph bought by his partners at the clinic and - while he wanted to help the vet's horse (more out of academic interest than any love of animals, I suspect) - he was loathe to endanger his new ECG machine in an (un)stable encounter with Mr. Ed.  Enter my brother, who seemed the perfect equipment manager for the occasion.  With the admonition that "if anything happens, don't worry about me - just get the ECG safely out of the damn horse's reach", off the two of them went on their "horsecall".  Dad had researched the proper lead positioning for a horse heart, and quickly determined that the beast indeed was suffering from congestive heart failure.  A quick calculation resulted in the proper dose of medication, and without further ado father and son returned to Lethbridge.  Apparently all turned out well for the vet and his horse.  The latter returned to mounting mares on a regular basis, and the former resumed making regular bank deposits.  Sig had, of course, refused any payment for his services (and John's), but was pleasantly surprised the following Xmas when he received a framed and autographed portrait of the illustrious "Petroscka" or whatever his name was, with the phrase "with gratitude from your favorite patient" on the back.  Yahoo!

Harry and The Horse

Harry Ezra Balfour was born April 26, 1893, at Gore's Landing, Ontario, the only son of the very dour Reverend David Balfour of the local Methodist Church.  Harry chafed under the stifling religiosity at home.  (Once he broke his nose in a fist fight - a real transgression for the son of a minister - but it stood him in good stead later in life.)  Educated at various southern Ontario locations, he completed Grade 12 at Albert College in Belleville at age 16.  He immediately departed his rigid religious upbringing (having attended church services four times every Sunday all of his young life), and embarked on some training as a teacher.  (Thus he always said he was "paid up" re: church attendance through age 64, and never attended services again except for marriages, christenings, and funerals.  Furthermore, as the brilliant intellect he was, he became a lifelong fervent atheist.)  But he ran out of money for teacher training, and headed west as did many others swept up in the great western migration of 1900-1915, when more than a million people immigrated and settled in the three prairie provinces of western Canada.  He took a "harvester's special" train west in 1911 and got off at Fort Walsh, Alberta, where he found work as laborer on a harvesting gang, ranch cook, and cowboy near Irvine, AB.  (Alberta was only four years old herself, formerly known as the Northwest Territory until provincehood was bestowed in 1905.)  Later, when it was discovered that he was "educated" he stayed on at Walsh as a school teacher before heading to Calgary.

In this 1911 photo, Harry and "L. Cruess" are seen practicing their roping skills on a ranch near Medicine Hat, Alberta.  Below he is playing the guitar while a fellow cowboy cleans a firearm.