Down memory lane

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Published on Friday, March 3, 2017

By Roy White

Submitted

In 1957 I attended Mount Allison University as a Theology student. That spring I was sent to Manitoba on a mission field. I conducted worship services at three villages; Edrans, Helston and Pine Creek. Brandon was about 50 miles to the southwest of Helston, and Portage la Prairie was 40 miles to the east of Helston.

Helston contained a grain elevator capable of holding 40,000 bushels of grain. There was not much to do in Helston. However, Neepawa was the focal point of the communities.  Every Saturday night farmers from miles around headed into Neepawa for entertainment. The stores were open until 9 p.m., so it was a full day and evening of various events. Bill Lamb, a neighbour farmer took me to one of his favourite restaurants in Neepawa, the Royal Cafe. It was overflowing with customers and the meal was delicious. That night there were around 1000 people downtown. I spent a delightful hour at the bowling alleys which only had four lanes.

Edrans had a one room school house. It had a flagpole, a small school yard and an outhouse out back. The teacher had about 25 students and how she dealt with them was mind boggling. The small number of children came from surrounding farms. Double desks were attached to the floor and a large stove was in the centre of the room for use in the winter. The one room school became the backbone of early rural education in Manitoba. It was where meetings, picnics, social activities and dances took place. Every day at noon I visited the school to play games with the children.

There are a lot of people, places and events that I have forgotten from that wonderful summer. However there is one thing that I will never forget as long as I live and that was my mode of transportation. I had three choices, a bicycle, a very old used car or a horse. Being a lover of animals, I opted for the horse and that proved to be one of the best decisions I had ever made in my life.

I got the horse from Bill Lamb, a hard worker, a conscientious farmer and a true christian. Bill harrowed and plowed the fields with his horse which he called “Lightning”. He named him Lightning because of his quickness of both feet and mind. He bought a second horse for the job and loaned me Lightning. That horse was my constant companion from May to September. Bill told me that his horse weighed over 1000 pounds but was gentle as a lamb. He said “Roy, if you treat the horse with respect and train him properly he will do almost anything you ask”. To prove his point he said to Lightning, “go get the cows” and off he went to the field and led the cows straight to the barn. Lightning weighed over 1000 pounds, but as Bill said, he was gentle as a lamb. He would take an apple from my pocket without tearing it. He could lay down on the ground and roll over. Lots of time I would take him into a field where he would lie down and I would lie down with him and use his neck as a pillow. I can still feel the sun shining on my face. Lightning would not move until I got up. He could jump over a barrel and then roll it along with his head. He would put his head on my shoulder and look for a pat and a couple of carrots. He loved to be praised and patted. I could talk to him like talking to another human. If I told him to step back he would back up three or four feet. When I talked, his ears would shoot straight up as if he was really listening to me. His love was unconditional. He was a wonderful, wonderful animal. When I held the reins and stopped suddenly in front of him, he would gently nudge me forward with his head. I always went to the barn whistling, and soon as he heard it he came galloping from the field, stop suddenly in front of me and look for a treat.

That gentle horse would never leave me alone. When I was ready to go home I would climb upon his back and he would walk slowly down the road. I didn’t even use the reins. 

If I fell asleep on his back he would take me home and even open the gate of the fence with his mouth. Lightning liked to gallop and walk, he definitely was not a trotter. When we were about five miles from Edrans, he would gallop again, right to Bill Lamb’s yard. 

His pace began to quicken in anticipation of rest. He did that all on his own without any prompting from me. Lightning was a great riding horse and he loved carrying someone on his back. The truth is, I spent more time with the horse than preparing sermons or visiting. However, the people I served were very patient with me. They were gracious, kind, were blessed with empathy and a great sense of humour.

One evening in September, I was on my way to Helston for a going away party. I guess I wasn’t paying attention because my horse suddenly stopped when a skunk ran across his path. I went flying off the horse and landed on top of the skunk! I guess I was knocked out for a few seconds and when I woke up the horse was standing next to a tree about 20 feet from me. She had the sense enough not to come near me. I must have smelled like a sewer.

I managed to crawl to my horse, climb on his back and headed for the nearest ditch, which was about three feet deep. I jumped in with all my clothes on and waited until they were dried out and finally made it to Helston. When the large group of people saw the state I was in and the foul odour coming from me, they roared with laughter. I think Lightning was even smiling. They led me to a large barn where I had to remove all my clothes and that was really embarrassing to say the least. They provided two large tubs for me. One tub was filled with water and tomato juice and the other tub had soap, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide in it. Apparently they discovered that large amounts of tomato juice was only marginally effective.

I don’t know if animals have a place in heaven, but if there is, I know Lightning is galloping around heaven with Roy Rogers’ horse, Trigger.