Joe Cole: Atkinson Pony Farm History
Interviewed by: Carolyn Cuskey
Interview Date: August 4, 2007
Q: It is August 4, 2007 and I am
interviewing Joe Cole at the Atkinson Pony Barn.
A: When
I first started working and coming to the Shetland pony farm I believe it was
about 1952, and I was a fifth grader at Country Estates School. And uh…all of
our…all of this section - the mile section from Reno Street to 10th Street
was all the Shetland pony farm initially.
Q: And all the way to Air Depot?
A: Yeah,
that’s right, all the way to Air Depot. From
Q: You
could buy a Shetland pony?
A: Not
buy, I’m sorry. You would get one for free with the home and the parents would
bring the children down and they would get to pick out a pony. What I did at
the pony farm at that time was whatever I was told to do but I broke all the
Shetlands to ride.
Q: And
you were like ten years old?
A: Yeah,
ten to eleven to twelve. I worked here for about five years at the pony farm.
Q: Had
you worked around horses before?
A: Uh…I
had an uncle who had horses and cattle, so I had been around horses some before
but I learned a lot while I was here. It was uh… I recall on Sundays we had a
pony ride down here. Free pony ride. Anybody could come down and ride ponies
from like 1:00-3:00 or 1:00-4:00 every Sunday afternoon and that was part of my
responsibility was to get the ponies saddled up and down to the arena and then
to help the children on and off the Shetlands and of course this was part of
Mr. Atkinson’s marketing plan. He would get the families to come down here and
get the kid tied into the Shetland ponies and then they would buy the house.
Q: Is
that right. It’s kind of like these companies today where they give you a free
weekend at their timeshare, then you get the sales pitch.
A: Exactly.
So they would….and then we had a corral or had certain ponies that we had broke
to ride and uh…they would get to come and sit on the fence and pick out a pony
that they wanted and I would catch the pony for them and we gave the Shetland
pony with the bridle and saddle and uh…saddle blanket with each pony. They were
all alike. All the saddles and bridles.
Q: And
that’s when they were buying a house? They got the house and all the stuff.
A: That’s
right. And when they bought a house at the back of the lot they built a barn
for the Shetland pony. At that time most of the yards, if I recall had chain
link fences around them and most of them were pretty deep back yards.
Q: A
half acre; I think he built those first houses like that.
A: One
of the purposes was that the very back of the yard was fenced off from the rest
of the yard for the Shetland pony. And that’s why the barn was built back
there. And every house had one initially that was sold and the people got a
Shetland pony.
Q: Didn’t
the kids from
A: They
could ride anywhere they wanted, basically, on the property. The hayfield, the
hay meadows. We actually had a uh… lane, a fenced lane
that came from
Q: Oh,
it sounds like so much fun!
A: Everybody
just had a wonderful time.
Q: Oh,
I bet. This was kind of the era of cowboy culture because of the television
programs.
A: That’s
correct. It was in the early 50’s and uh…cowboys and Indians were a big deal
back then and so you know, it seemed like everyone wanted a Shetland horse or
pony. They were a hot item.
Q: Do
you know if Mr. Atkinson….he just started the pony business when he started
building
A: That’s
correct. He owned this area before he started building
Q: Wow.
Were they all in the square mile?
A: No,
part of them were here and then where
Q: Where
was the barn?
A: It
was right off of
Q: That
whole corner was pretty much pasture too. Except for
those oak trees.
A: That’s
right. We had a huge lake on that property back then that you could see from
Q: I
don’t remember that. Because I live just across from
A: Well,
it was a big place, that area, and it was on to the south to where the barn and
the house, you know where the proximity would be, it would be on south of
Q: They’ve
got a couple of ponds over there by the golf course but it’s not them?
A: No
it wasn’t those. But anyway, we had some ponies over there and some over here
and of course
Q: I
have never heard that story.
A: Oh
yeah, it was a big, big deal. Uh….we did that several times.
Q: Now
were the houses…what did the countryside look like back then.
A: There
was some houses that – initially the houses on the east side
of
Q: Oh,
do you know his last name? I think I have it in my notes.
A: Anyways,
his name was Arthur, he was from
Q: Now
was that a new house? It probably was an old farmhouse.
A: No,
it was an old farmhouse. It had been there, that’s why I say that house was on
the West side and at least one house on the East side of
Q: So
there were no additional housing additions or stores or anything like that?
A: No.
Anyway, that was kind of a fun time. Pony rides and parents just uh…parents had
to get together monthly for the pony club for Atkinson.
Q: Now
this was the
A: Yes.
Right here. The meeting room at the pony barn, because most of the kids would
ride the ponies down here to that meeting. They were encouraged to do that and they would tie then up in the arena.
With every meeting we would have supper and just have a great time.
Q: That
sounds like fun.
A: Oh
yeah. The parents would drive.
Q: Sounds
like a close knit community.
A: Yes,
very much so back then. Everybody knew everyone in
Q: Now
where did they keep them?
A: In
their corral at the back of their property.
Q: Okay.
A: They
weren’t – some
of them enlarged their lots back there at their barn, but their barn easily
accommodates two horses. And uh…several of them had larger horses and some of
them had, ended up having a couple of Shetland ponies, because they had two
children or something and they wanted more than one.
Q: Now
tell me about some of the specific horses. You were talking about Hillswick
Oracle.
A: Hillswick
Oracle is in the picture in the meeting room here and that’s Bob Robbins. That
was the ranch manager to start with Bill Atkinson.
Q: So
he would have probably started in 1952 or something?
A: Something
like that. He lived in the house right up here that was on top of the hill.
Used to have two houses here.
Q: That
would have been the old homestead house.
A: That’s
right. The old homestead house. And Bob lived in that
house and then a house was below that, I believe, was moved in here. They may
have built it, I don’t remember. Moses lived in there and his family. He was
the Indian, Creek Indian. There was a whole family of them and they did the
more labor intensive work like hauling hay and just whatever needed to be done.
They were from over in
Q: That
was before he bought him?
A: Yes,
that’s correct.
Q: Now
what does that mean when you say “at halter”?
A: That
means he wasn’t a riding horse; he just had a harness on there. Nobody ever
rode him.
Q: Oh,
he just walked around and looked good!
A: That’s
right! The handler, whoever was showing the horse, would just run along side
him and then they would stretch out when they would stop and throw their head
up. That’s what Bob was doing in this picture working with him and we had a
mare that was a world champion mare. I was trying to think of her name because
he bought her after she had become world championship at Bogey and she was
outstanding.
Q: What
did she look like?
A: She
was a red, kind of a sorrel – she was an outstanding mare – I can’t believe I
can’t think of her name – and, of course, we bred her with Hillswick Oracle and
sold their colts and they just brought huge prices.
Q: Those
weren’t the ponies that the kids got with the house?
A: No,
they were not the ponies, although some of them were children of Hillswick
Oracle. Most of them would have been geldings – didn’t give away many mares because
they were too valuable. People wanted to buy the mares to breed so we didn’t
give away many mares. It was the colts that were born as studs and later fixed
them; so that was the majority that they would pick from.
Q: Do
you think that had anything to do with the personality of those ponies that
kids - I’ve heard a lot from the few children that I have talked to, grownups
now, that had ponies, they would always talk about how ill tempered they were.
Shetland ponies kind of have that reputation.
A: Shetlands
generally are kind of ill-tempered a little bit but you know they are not
necessarily born that way, in my experiences with all of them that I had to
deal with. I mean they were gentle and once you worked with them, they would
gentle down. You have to realize that kids are around them and they are
taunting them and pulling on them and it irritates them, so some of the ponies
would get pretty ornery.
The
only Shetland that I remember that was really difficult, it was Linda Kerr’s
Shetland pony that we gave her and it was named Pawnee Bill – that was what she
named it. He was a little bitty pony built like a quarter horse, but he threw
me more times than anything on this farm. He bucked me off and I just couldn’t
believe it. One day Linda and her father and mother were here at the pony barn,
and there used to be a barn right beside here that was L-shaped barn. There was a corral with
a big high fence around and there were stalls in there. That’s where we had Pawnee
Bill and I would ride him everyday. He threw me twice that day and Bill was
watching me and her dad, and Mr. Kerr was a large man. He was
probably 6’2 and probably weighed 250 or 260 and Pawnee Bill maybe was 30
inches tall and so Mr. Kerr said, “Let me show you just how to do that, I bet
he won’t throw me.” I mean Bill could stand up and walk on this Shetland,
that’s the differentiation in size. And Pawnee Bill took off running, threw Mr.
Kerr off and broke his leg!
Q: Oh
no. He was a strong little pony!
A: So
that was an experience with the Kerr family. I believe Mr. Kerr had to wear
that full leg cast for several months.
Q: That
little pony heard what he said! Well that’s amazing. So they really were strong
weren’t they?
A: Absolutely,
they were unbelievably strong.
The
facility’s changed so much from what it used to look like. Just immediately to
the west of the pony barn was an L-shaped barn with a chain link fence all the
way around it and uh…of course the two houses that were for the caretakers for
Mr. Atkinson and then on up in the pasture – would be west of Mr. Atkinson’s
house – there was a barn there that would have been a little bit to the north.
Then there was a saddle room to the south of it. The saddle room would be
almost straight west of the house. It would have been out the back yard just a
little ways over there and it was strictly a tack room for saddles and stuff
like that. And it had a hitching post that you could take your horse and tie
him up. I believe I saw a picture of Mr. Atkinson and some of his friends on
the big horses that are in front of the barn.
Q: Did
it have a silhouette of a horse head?
A: No,
this was at the big barn. It was half as long as this room here.
Q: Oh,
it was a big barn then.
A: Both
of those, well, houses and everything is torn down now. That’s what it
initially looked like and it was kind of like a chicken house built right here
too.
Q: Right,
because he had
A: At
one time, and then they moved them up to his house and had quail and pheasant.
Q: I
didn’t know about the quail and pheasant.
A: They
had them because I ate breakfast I can’t tell you how many times with the
Atkinson’s up there. Mrs. Atkinson was a wonderful cook and so gracious. So
pleasant and Bill was too and they would invite me in for breakfast and we
would have pheasant sometimes. They cleaned them right out of their cages back
behind the house where they would catch one.
Q: Now
you ate up there for breakfast? Was Bob Robbins there, too?
A: No.
It was just myself and Bill and Ruby and maybe Eugenia
and Janette and, of course, Bill Jr. was already gone. He was in college and
got married, so it was the family or some of their relative came up. I can’t
even recall. They had some nephew that was around my age, but Bill would just
treat me great. I drove the truck when I was just 10, 11, 12, 13. I drove it all over this place. He had a Dodge truck
that had wooden racks on the side that said “Bill Atkinson” and had a painted
picture of the Earl of Linwood, the grey dapple stallion - with his face was
painted on each side of the pickup. They were wooden deals that were just
slipped down into the pickup, there, and said “Atkinson Pony Farm for Boys and Girls,”
but I used to drive that all over. I lived on
Q: Sounds
like a great time, the whole several years that you were here.
A: Seen
and met a lot of people, you know, that as a young boy didn’t mean that much,
but Mike Monroney and all the senators and, you know, high-powered people would
come through here and come see Bill and he would always introduce them.
Q: Would
they come down to the barn?
A: Oh,
yeah. They would come down to his house and then they would come down here
because I always had Hillswick Oracle and the mare’s name that was the world’s champion was Larigoes Copper
Queen.
Q: Oh
my, no wonder you couldn’t remember!
A: We
just called her CopperQueen. I seen a couple of pictures of her harnessed up to
a buggy, you know, a little surrey . It’s not the one
at the end of the hall because Pete used to pull that.
Q: Now
you are talking about the wicker one?
A: Yes,
the wicker one. We used to have a Shetland pony by the name of Pete, not the
best looking or prettiest around, but he was built like a quarter horse and he had
pulled coal cars up from the coalmines. We bought him from a horse trader that
would go around and Bill bought him and he was broke to pull thing and so, of
course, we would harness him up and go wherever you wanted. He was one of the
ponies that I would take down on Sundays for the kids to ride, like a lot of
ponies he got kind of smart, you know. You would put somebody on him to ride around
the arena and he would go about half way, now that he’s far enough away from
you, you can’t bother him, and the kid would be on the back and they don’t know
how to ride or guide him and he would go and just lay down. Of course, the kids
would get off of him and he would go off and eat grass. He would never hurt the
children, but he would do that all the time. Basically always had to have
somebody lead him.
Q: Now
when the kids came down there to ride, did they just stay in the corral down
there? They didn’t get to go in the whole area?
A: No,
not on Sundays. They could walk around and look at everything but we just had
the Shetlands inside the arena and most of the people that would come on
Sundays were inexperienced riders and some had never rode a pony in their life.
Those ponies that we had down there were extremely gentle and didn’t kick or
bite. Pete would do his lay down deal sometimes.
Q: Like
a mule probably. That was all free?
A: Yes
and it was well known. Sunday by 1:00 they were parked all over. The families
were here and they come through the barn and looked at the ponies and then a
couple of years we had horse shows. Large horses, like Morgan horses – dressed up in
tuxedos and rode them and that was a real experience because these stalls were
not made for big horses. Keeping the horses here and the judges.
Q: Where
did the judging take place?
A: Right
here.
Q: Did
people sit on the grass like an amphitheater?
A: Yes,
exactly. Because of the terrain going down nobody had a bad seat, but they had
the judges in the middle of the arena. I don’t know if you have ever been at a
horse show at the fairgrounds, that’s exactly how it was here. The English
saddles and the tuxedos and hats. I don’t recall if we had it more than once,
but we had it once here. It was a big deal.
Q: Was
there other parties and events like that here?
A: You
know, occasionally. Bill was pretty generous to people to have parties. He was
very protective, too, because it was horses or animals, because anytime you get
kids and people they want to run up and touch all over the horses. So he was
protective of the ponies and the people around, too. Wasn’t really that many
outside parties except for Eugenia and Janette would have some parties at the
clubhouse. There was always visitors out here
especially with
Q: Well
did Mr. Atkinson come down to the barn a lot?
A: Oh
yes. He would come down and Dorothy Miller. After Mrs. Atkinson died Bill
married Dorothy, but she would come down and they would help with registering
the ponies, especially Dorothy because she kept up with the paperwork. To
register those ponies was uh…she would sit at a little desk or a little table,
whatever she could find out here in the hallway and write as we would bring
ponies in, or up at the other barn.
Q: So
she did the paperwork for all the ponies and kept the records?
A: Yes,
that’s right. She did. Bill loved the ponies and loved to come around. So he
was down a bunch. Whenever one of the dogs would have pups usually they would
put them in the chicken house out here and uh…to protect the pups until they
got old enough to run wherever they wanted and so you always had Dalmatians.
Q: He
had Dalmatians’ back in the 50’s?
A: That’s
right. They would have big litters.
Q: I
saw a picture of one dog that had seven or eight puppies.
A: Yeah,
that was just the minimum. I think there were a couple of times that there were
more than that. Anyways the pups would grow up here.
Q: Did
he sell them or give them away?
A: I
think he gave them away. I don’t believe he sold any of them; I think he just
enjoyed animals and uh…you know Mrs.
Atkinson, she was so kind and gentle but I’m not sure she was a wild animal
lover, but she certainly tolerated them. She loved her flowers and trees and
you know once they hired Arthur here she was in heaven. He was so knowledgeable
of plants and things.
Q: And the yard looked pretty good, too?
A: Oh
yes, they just kept it beautifully, you know.
Q: Did
Mrs. Atkinson ever come down to the barn?
A: Occasionally,
whenever we had functions like the pony club parties and things like that, she
always came down and she was always so nice. Somebody would skin their hand or
something and she would take them to the house, you know, and she never met a
stranger, kind of like Bill, you were always welcome in their house. They had
that beautiful front porch on that house, the original house you know that you
could sit out there in that screened-in porch and enjoy just looking and she
did that a lot in the evenings.
Q: Oh
really. So that was before the big part of the house?
A: Yes,
before the big part was put on.
Q: Do
you remember when Mr. Atkinson, I’m not sure if this was in your time frame or
not, when he announced that he was going to run for governor and that whole
political campaign?
A: You
know, I remember when he ran for governor because what a mistake we made not
getting him. He would have been a great one. With him and I think it was Moore that ran against him and whoever, you know,
that was president of the American Legion for the state or something, but anyway they were both well qualified but Bill
was a lot better. I remember well the campaigning an uh.. I hated it when he
got beat because he would have been a great governor.
Q: Now
you’re talking about the 1958, when he lost in the primary?
A: Yes,
that’s right. I think it was Preston
Q: Well,
J. Howard Edmonson was the one that beat him. . .
A: It
was?
Q: Well,
he must have because he went on to become governor and he was a Democrat.
A: It
was a shame, but I would see Bill and talk to him even after I left here and
grew up and got married, you know, because we lived in Midwest City and all the
way through our family. And we ran into Bill and Mrs. Atkinson
whenever my children, I had two that were real small – three, I guess, at that
time. And he ran into us and Kent, my son, who was probably four or five years
old, and told my son, “Well, why doesn’t your dad ever bring you out to the pony
farm?” and blah, blah, blah. (laughing) It sounded
like a
Q: This
would have probably been what the late 60’s?
A: Yes,
late 1967 or 1968 along in there. So anyway we came out and he didn’t have many
ponies then maybe twenty or so and uh…could have been a few more than that but
he just had them all to the west of his house in the pasture there and so we
walked out there and Mrs. Atkinson was with us and just talked. And so he said,
“
Q: Oh,
did you break her?
A: Oh
yes.
Q: You
did?
A: I
broke her and just uh.. I never put a
bridle on her you know, a bit in her mouth because kids can jerk so, you know, so I just broke her strictly
with a halter and she would just - We had her for years, I had a blanket, and I
didn’t have stirrups on her initially because a lot of kids can get their feet
hung up in stirrups. The kids would ride her and I remember one time Candy was
falling off so she said, “I am falling” and I just watched her and, I mean, you
know, when she was just going like that, you know – and Powder Puff was the
pony’s name – and she just stopped dead still and Candy wasn’t far from the
ground and the pony never moved. She climbed underneath Powder Puff and Candy
got up and brushed herself off.
Q: That’s
nice because some ponies would have gone after her.
A: Yeah.
But anyway the experiences from down here. I know Joe and Eugenia, they were
just dating before they ever got married and I used to have a lot of fun with
them. Because I’d kid – I still do, you know, Joe and Eugenia, they would get out and
washing his car and he’d would back up
and say “you missed a spot there!”.(laughter)
Q: (looking
at a photo) This is Romeo White Cloud?
A: That’s
right. That’s Romeo White Cloud?
B:
Was that kind of his temperament as well?
A: He
was really – all
the stallions we had – Hillswick Oracle was what you would call high strung. He
wasn’t mean or anything, but he would let you know that you have got to handle
him right. He wouldn’t kick you or bite you or anything, but he’d be away from
you in a heartbeat if you didn’t pay attention and hold onto him. He was always
geared up, you know. The Earl of Linwood was very gentle and very tame. For a
stallion he was just always a pleasant pony, you know temperament was good.
Romeo White Cloud would fit about in the middle between Hillswick Oracle and
Earl of Linwood. He was not real spooky or geared up where we couldn’t ride
him. He was the only one of three major stallions that we broke to ride - Romeo.
The Earl of Linwood was just strictly a stallion, you know for breeding.
Q: That’s
all?
A: He
was just beautiful. Hillswick Oracle he was so high powered, he was just for
breeding. And Romeo, that’s what he was initially, but we broke him to ride. He
just, you know, had a good temperament; he didn’t bite or kick. So uh…still
with
him being a stallion, he was always alert when
you got him around other horses.
Q: So Mr. Atkinson really had brought a
breeding program in here?
A: Absolutely. Let me tell you.
Q: He didn’t just have a few ponies for
novelty, he made it into a business.
A: Initially
it was just a hobby for him, that’s what he always said. His hobby, he paid
some big money for, you know, the to- notch horses,
but we started selling those things for unbelievable money and uh… I tell you
that Hillswick Oracle – we sold his colts at $3,000 a head before they ever hit the
ground. When they were born we would start to wean them and whenever you weaned
them off the mare they would pick them up.
Q: So
he didn’t have any trouble selling them?
A: No,
but his older ponies, well not older, the ones that aged with him he wouldn’t
sell them.
Q: Oh
really, he got attached to them?
A: He
was afraid that somebody wouldn’t take care of them or might abuse them. I know
whenever he sold basically everything he had, he kept the mares that were
twenty years old or something like that because he just couldn’t bear to see
them go. That’s the reason he still had about twenty whenever we got ours and
some of them had colts. Some of them he would keep until they died. We’ve had –
Dr. Vierling was our vet. He lived in
Q: They
were kind of like pets?
A: Yeah,
they were just, you know, pets.
Q: How
did he come across the horses that he purchased?
A: At
auctions.
Q: He
went to auctions?
A: Ah-huh.
Q: Now
he did that himself?
A: Oh
yeah. There were a lot of Shetland ponies back then, because people were
interested in them.
Q: It
was kind of a national phenomenon.
A: That’s
right. Just went out of sight – the prices. Bill would go to
these auctions; we used to go to one at Perry,
Q: Did
you go to some of them?
A: I
went to a bunch of them.
Q: Bill
took you?
A: Yeah,
because we would sell some of them and we would buy some and uh…it was just a
big deal back then and of then the market went away. Even the white pony hitch
that we had, you know, he bought them. . ..
Q: He
bought them as a set?
A Ah-huh.
Q: He
didn’t breed those?
A: No,
he them in their entirety and the wagon with them and everything. And then
George Cook was the driver which was one of the full-blood Indians that worked
here on the place. George was the handler and the driver of the white pony
hitch. After I wasn’t down here anymore – the hitch was still here when I left
and I don’t know how much longer George was here. He was Moses’ brother in-law,
I think it was. They were all Creek Indians.
Q: I
wonder if he lived in the area?
A: George?
They were all from over around in the eastern part of
Q: Do
you remember Moses’ last name?
A: UH….
Q: I
bet Eugenia would know.
A: Yes,
I bet so because she will know Moses. Now George is George Cook. I remember his
name.
Q: But
he was a brother in-law so….
A: Yes,
that’s right. I can’t remember Moses last name.
Q: That’s
interesting. Do you know about any other Native American people that were in
the area? I know that Nawassa and Wonga streets run off of
A: You
think?
Q: Well,
Hazel Craddock told me that.
A: I
don’t know. I do know Moses and them came from over east a little. Like I say
they were full blood.
Q: Maybe
Mr. Atkinson met him at an auction or something.
A: Well
he could have. Moses wasn’t really a horse person.
Q: One
thing I wanted to ask you about was the pond over there where the golf course
is. I heard a story that Mr. Atkinson – it was like a two acre pond. Was it
that big?
A: Yeah.
The creek had always been here.
Q: It’s
a spring. It was spring-fed?
A: Yeah.
It was dammed up. I don’t know if Bill dammed it up or what. There was a big
dam up there because we used to drive across the dam to get from this side of
the pasture to that side without having to come down here to the house and then
cross out to the pasture.
Q: So
it acted like a bridge?
A: That’s
right.
Q: Probably
a homesteader. There was a family named Miller that homesteaded here. I don’t
know if they were the original homesteaders, but that’s who he got the property
from. They had owned it for at least 35 years.
A: They could have; it has been here for years. I remember when they was draining it, you know, they was catching fish. . . .
Q: That’s
what Mr. Atkinson said! Somewhere in his writings he said that they had a big
fish fry when they drained the pond.
A: They
did. They drained the pond.
Q: What
kind of fish were they?
A: Mostly
they were catfish. I remember big catfish.
Q: That
would have been fun.
A: At
that time Eugenia and Joe, after they got married and everything, their first
house was across the street and Bill Jr. was living down in Texas somewhere, I
don’t recall where. I would see him occasionally when they would come up and
visit. I think initially they just had Leslie their oldest daughter. That was
the only child that I remember.
Q: They
had a lot of children.
A: Yes,
a bunch.
Q: Well,
was there anything else that you can think of that you would like to say? How
did you work here? Did you work after school?
A: I
would work after school and on weekends and then in summer I would work all the
time. My duties were just whatever, you know. I broke Shetlands, I cleaned
stalls, I’d haul water, I’d feed them, and I go out to what you would call
check the horses. Either I would drive the truck out or I would saddle up. We
had a couple of bigger horses here, and we I had a couple of Shetlands that I
rode that were larger Shetlands. We didn’t raise them here; we bought them from
a trader. There were horse traders that would actually travel around the
country. One guy Joe something, was one of the bigger traders. He had a
semi-truck that he would have with him at all times – he had a driver. They
would have ponies in the back of this.
Q: Those
poor little ponies!
A: They
wouldn’t have them herded up like you see these traders now. The
would have halters on, and they would have hay on the floor and they
were worth some money, but he would bring ponies around and Bill bought several
times. Like Pete, the little Shetland that pulled the surrey around here, he
bought him from Joe. Bill bought a couple of other ones from Joe that I rode
that were a little larger than Shetlands. Really good riding ponies, you know.
I would go out and check the ponies in the pasture and make sure one wasn’t
sick or hurt or something like that.
Q: That
must have been fun.
A: Oh
yeah. And if they were, then we’d cut them out and try to get them up to the
barn. A few times, you know, they didn’t
want to cooperate and we would rope them, down in the pasture. Dr. Vierling would
come up and we would doctor them there.
Q: How
long would it have taken you to do something like that? Would you pack a lunch?
A: Ah,
just to check the Shetlands, you know, if you were checking all the pastures
here and if you didn’t have any problems – if you just rode through them and
going from one pasture to another, it would probably take you two to three
hours. If you were very observant, which Bill said make sure you pay attention
to them and don’t just, you know, just because they are standing there, you
know, kind of ride up on them and let them move a little so you can see that
they are okay.
Q: And you’d check the fence, I guess, while you were out
there?
A: Oh,
yes, and, of course, Bob Robbins was the initial manager and then Dick – what’s
Dick’s last name, golly [Beard] –
Dick came after Bob left as the manager of the pony farm. They were here all
the time, and they would check fences and everybody
did what needed to be done. As a general rule, most of the Shetlands didn’t
fight the fence very bad. We always kept very good fence particularly
on the exterior to make sure they
never got out. And then the last manager of the pony farm, Dick – he had a
horse and a mule – a miniature mule.
Q: A
miniature?
A: A
miniature mule. I rode the mule and some
places there are some pictures of me in a clown outfit with face paint on, and I
would ride Pete who was a Shetland mule and he was a trick mule.
Q: Now
that’s not Pete that pulled the wicker basket?
A: No,
that’s a totally different mule. Dick owned the little mule and he brought him
with him and I worked with him and uh….whenever we did it for some of the pony
clubs and stuff. Pete would sit down and
he would lay down. You would put a blanket on him or
he would reach back and get the blanket and pull it off. He would drink Cokes;
he loved Cokes! I rode him in a couple of parades too.
Q: How
cute. Now he wasn’t a Shetland donkey? He was a mule?
A: He
was a mule. I mean he had the ears and he was dark brown or almost black, but I
had a lot of fun with him. He would just do anything. A few time we put him in
the car! Dick would take the backseat out of the car and put him in the car and
rode around and people would think you are crazy. (laughing)
They couldn’t believe their eyes. Pete was just an easygoing mule. I used to
race some of the kids on Pete, you know, you never think a mule can outrun a
horse. On the path coming from
Q: Did
you win?
A: Oh
yeah. He was pretty fast.
Q: Wow
that sounds like fun.
A: But
anyway, Dick had a mule and he had the big horse named Jim and he was a trick
horse. He would sit up and kneel down and lay down and
do all kinds of things. Dick had spent a ton of time with him.
Q: So
it was kind of entertainment?
A: Yeah, they were
entertainment. He would entertain groups that came out. Bill was good friends
with a big Shetland breeder out of Ada, Oklahoma that would come out, Ace
Hutchinson and he owned some jewelry stores down there.
Q: That
name is so familiar.
A: He
and Bill were pretty good friends and so he bought some ponies from Ace and he
bought some from Bill. Ace had a huge pony farm down there. Anyways it was a
fun time.
Q: Do
you remember any, it was very country back then, do
you remember any wild animals? Was their more of the urban animals like we have
now like skunks and raccoons?
A: Yeah,
you would see coyotes out here once in a while.
Q: Did
you hear them out there sometimes?
A: Sometimes,
sure, because as you said there was nothing on to the north of us at all until
you get to 23rd and then
Q: Never
any mountain lions?
A: Never
any mountain lions, but you would hear stories. Never did really see anything
like that.
Q: How
about any deer?
A: Yes,
we would see some deer every now and then.
Q: Well
it just sounds great.
A: It
was a good experience. Bill gave you a lot of opportunity to be responsible for
things. He would give you things and make you responsible and if you messed up,
you know, I mean he would call it to your attention and talk to you about it,
but it still gave you some help later in life to learn responsibility.
Q: He
didn’t have an angry temper?
A: No,
never. Of course he got mad at me a few times when I really messed up, you
know, (laughing), and Mrs. Atkinson, of course, I never saw her mad ever.
Eugenia and Janette were just fun, you know, they were in high school at the
time, you know, just young and enjoying life.
Q: That’s
great. Well, I certainly do appreciate you participating.
A: I
am happy to do it. It is many fond memories.
Joe Cole also made these additional
comments about the pony barn:
The two west side bathrooms (handicap and
women) were originally combined with the
storage closet to form one big room used
for tack and saddles.
At the south end of the barn, the west side
room was originally for carriages. The wicker
buggy and another one were kept there. It
had a garage door on the south side of that
room. The east side room was originally a
blacksmith shop with a forge where iron items,
including horseshoes were made. The farm
manager (Bob Robbins or Dick Beard) did
the blacksmithing and horse shoeing.
In the 1950s, there was white board fence
like the corral fence on the west side of
the pony barn.
Other buildings:
There was an L-shaped barn just west of the
pony barn with a chain link fence corral.
There were chicken coops on the north side
of the house. The farm hand and his family
lived in a house northwest of the Atkinson
house on the hill, and there was another
house south of it about where the west gate
is. The big barn with the horse head silhouette
was just north of the
metal Quonset hut, and there was a tack building south of that, but
detached. The tack
building had a hitching rail outside where horses could be tied.
There was a fenced
dirt lane from the end of