When my Grandmother, Leatha, was 11 years old she was transferred to a new school. Flora Johnston Outcalt had just passed away. She was her grandmother. She owned a large homestead ranch in Gunnison, Colorado. Flora’s four daughters’ had a lot of ranch business to attend to so it was decided that Leatha would reside at the ranch for a while. Her Grandfather, John Outcalt had built a school house that was for District 22. They called the school Paragon, as in “the paragon of education.”
My 11 year old Grandmother had to get to school each morning. They decided to take John’s favorite draft horse each morning. The name of this horse was Forby. She would saddle up the horse each morning, ride it to the school house and stable it. Yes they had stables for people that rode to school. When school was over she had to saddle up once again and ride home to the ranch.
One day it was bitter cold and it started to snow. This was near blizzard conditions. Grandma had to ride Forby back home to the ranch. The snow was covering the ground and visibility was down to almost nothing. She had no idea where to go. She was destined to be wandering around the country side in freezing cold weather. Just as she began to cry, she remembered someone saying that horses always know the way home.
She had the inclination to just let the reigns go and let Forby find his way back to the ranch. So that is what she did. She dropped the reigns and Forby made his way back home. She arrived safely. The lesson here is simple. Sometimes it is best to just “drop the reigns.”
