Ole Red and My Saddle

I think Daddy bought Red for me in 1964.  It the year I was badly burned and missed 6 weeks of school.  Gilbert set me on fire at the gas cookstove.  We had butchered hogs that day.  I was leaning next to cook stove and he turned a front burner on.  I had rolled my hair on brush rollers.  It was wet.  I had on a flannel shirt tied in front.  I did not “stop, drop, and roll”.  I panicked and ran.  My Daddy ran after me, but couldn’t catch me.  I was running a circle in the house.  The flames were above my head he said. Then he turned and ran toward me.  He put the fire out with his hands.  I had his handprints on my back.  My Daddy saved my life.  That’s the way I see it.  He bought me Red trying to find something I could do.  

Sister Helen, wrote this about my saddle.  

After I had Cocoa for some years, my Sister Betty got a saddle horse named Red. Red was a decent horse about half broke, he could really fox trot. He was good sized maybe 15 or 16 hands tall. This was at the same time I had Cocoa. I was pretty spoiled and it was about time Betty got something. Betty rode ole Red for a summer or two. Daddy bought her a Lamb Saddle; it had silver stirrups and a brass horn. It was a high back saddle, very old but in good condition.

This is a picture of our old lamb saddle daddy bought it for Betty Renfroe back approximately 1964.   We have had it in the family ever since…I gave it to Gilbert a few years ago and Willis Powell brought it to me last night.   I have it sitting out on the porch and I’m rubbing it with a oil.  It was made by W. E. Lamb a saddle maker in Green Forest, AR.   The internet said he started making saddles in 1908 and continued until 1930.  This saddle was once owned by Daddy’s friend Jack Robertson.