indian ponies

when I was a kid indian ponies were easily had. 15 dollars or maybe even a bottle of tokay wine would buy one. they were small, big footed, and coarse headed. couldn't out run  the smoke off their own droppings.  but they were easy to get and when you got one broke and gentle he was worth 5 times what you payed for him to town kids who wanted a saddle horse.  from the time I was probably 14 I always had one around. one was a Navajo pony my dad found. a little black mare who had a decent head and showed some style. she got gentle, I roped some calves on her, even showed her in a 4 h show. we sold her to a friend who used her for everything imaginable and he eventually sold her to the dole pineapple folks who sent her to the 50th state. long ways from Arizona. I don't remember all of the ponies I had, a white mare, and a sorrel mare, but that's it. they got ridable in a few weeks and got new homes. y uncle who leased cattle land from the gila river tribe was always bring me one.  we had a good deal, he bought em, I rodem and we split the take.  as I got older even after I was married with kids he was always bringen me some deal to make a little extra cash. one bay wagon horse I had ended up at a feed yard I worked in later. that was one of the best horses I ever sorted fat cattle on.  my cuzins had a black horse whose dady was a wagon horse and his momma a driftwood bred mare, I think. but old stingray was a legand. as a calf horse he was unequaled, with a stop that broke many a rope on big ole heavy calves. in them days we didn't rope little calves, they would weigh as much as 400 pounds. no poly ropes either, they were silk manila.  the stingray would turn around and work as a tie down team roping horse or dally he didn't care. I even remember one college rodeo they bull dogged on him. not many like him any more.  but then we used horses. they were broke before they went to the arena. no horse mumbler crap then.  they were good and solid because they were used , not put away when they broke a sweat! horses are worth more today, but not many could do what a lot of those indian ponies could.