Willie and Annie on their mounts, Tonka and Sassy.
My folks bought Tonka from the Hawkins family. Back when the McDonalds in Coeur d'Alene was the only McDonalds around, Tonka and Dal Hawkins appeared in big color photo on the wall. They were standing near some alpine lake, and, no doubt, the photo was taken by Dal's son Will, who had a postcard business here in the area.
Tonka was known formally as Ponderay's Tonkawa. Our Appaloosa stallion, Ponderay's Fancy Pants, was her father. So we were thrilled to have a horse that traced back to a horse we'd raised from a baby.
Tonka served as a 4-H horse for my brother Jim and later, as a horse show mount for Willie, who looked pretty good as a young cowboy.
Sassy was my sister Laurie's first horse. We bought her from the Knaggs who lived along HWY 95 when their place north of town was out in the country. Now, out in the country is a few miles down the highway.
Sassy served Laurie well and many other 4-H'ers, including nationally known Arabian trainer Monty Collison.
Sassy did not serve Bill well. He volunteered to ride her home from a 4-H show at the fairgrounds one night when the show had gone on until well after dark. All Sassy had for tack was a halter and lead rope.
Bill climbed on, and Sassy could smell home after a long day's work. Bill still likes to tell how Sassy did not see the stop sign, but he did.
The next thing he saw was the ditch next to Boyer Road, and the next day he went to see Dr. Marienau with his sore rear end. Sassy found home; my dad happened to be in the driveway, calmly walked over, opened the gate to the barnyard and Sassy ran through, happy to be back in her own corral for the night.
Bill usually came to horse shows long enough to see the kids ride and to snap a few pictures. Then, he'd be on his way.
He had sent these photos to his folks in Louisiana a long time ago. Eventually, the photo album came back to Sandpoint.
Yesterday Willie saw it for the first time since he was really young. Bill pulled it out after Barbara and Laurie informed Debbie's visiting friends that Willie, indeed, had been a cowboy, and a good one. Same was true for Annie.
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