A Short Horse Is Soon Curried

About the Book

The early twentieth century was made to order for Bob Turner. There was just enough of the life-style of the horse and buggy days to suit him just fine. Born toward the end of the second decade, he hadnt quite got the message that the mechanical age was here. He couldnt understand why the horse wasnt still better than Fords temperamental Model T that wouldnt let you leave home without the pliers and monkey wrench that Henry supplied with it, nor a tire patching kit that was used on nearly every trip.

The rest of the family, father, mother, and older brother were perfectly willing to bid the horse goodbye so when he was old enough Bob took over the driving of the horse team to till their little farm of ten acres until more dependable tractors came along.

America was experimenting with prohibition and Bobs father had planted grapes as his solution to the problem. Every member of the family participated in the picking, pressing, and bottling of the sweet juice so people could make their own wine. It was during this time that, too small to lift the boxes of grapes to the bed of their Model T truck, his brother showed him how to drive it while he did the loading. This led to an early driving career several years before a driver license was required for anyone.

With the repeal of the eighteenth amendment and his older brother having left home following high school graduation, there was more participation in the farm-work as Bob and his father grubbed the grapes out to make room for citrus.

Never neglecting his horsemanship, he taught himself leatherwork, making and selling much of it to the many actors and studio personnel he encountered at the worlds most active motion picture location ranch that was a hike of less than a ten minutes from his house. He made his own roping saddle his first year in high school.

Breaking and training horses led him into riding bareback broncs and bulls at rodeos with a more than  fair degree of success. Having worked for one of the leading saddlers when just out of high school, he was torn between continuing with that or joining the Cowboys Turtle Association and joining the professional rodeo circuit. This problem was solved by the advent of Second World War. He enlisted in the U.S. Army.

Promised assignment to the Remount Service by a recruiting officer, instead, he found himself in the Coast Artillery of the Army of the United States. Disappointed at not being assigned to a branch of the service closely associated with the horse cavalry he resolved to make the best of the situation.  Desiring something better than a truck drivers humdrum existence he made application to the Air Corps Aircrew Training. Snatched from an oversees embarkation move literally at the last minute he was left all alone in an abandoned airport bivouac area to await transportation to another coast artillery organization where he lead a stepchild existence to await his aircrew training assignment.

After almost a year in the army he commenced Aircrew Training in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He tells an almost blow by blow account of his grueling twenty month training period by which he emerged with pilot wings and a commission as a second lieutenant. He was assigned to fly student navigators in the Aviation Cadet Program until the conclusion of the war.

Remaining in the service a few more months, he returned to civilian life with the rank of first lieutenant, married to the love of his life, a Texas girl he met during the college phase of his flying training. Over the years, with participation in the Air Force Reserve, he attained the rank of major and retired at that rank with twenty years service.

Over the years he engaged in many interesting activities. He found it unrealistic to resume rodeo due to the passage of time and the necessity of providing for a wife and growing family. He could not see where buying hay by the ton for horses fit in with those plans. The saddlery business had changed for the wor

About the Author

With a deep desire for adventure Bob Turner was positive he was born at least fifty years too late. But he made up for it by pursuing whatever interested him. There was never a dull life as a farm boy, cowboy, saddle maker, soldier, aviator, policeman, or craftsman.