Fanny and Bill, the horse team with their people, Dave and Jimmy Carpenter. Picture taken about 1943 Click on Pictures for Larger View My dad, Dave Carpenter, kept the team long after tractors were available.
When corn picking time came around, he would harness the horses to the old wagon and start them down the corn row. After that, no one was needed to steer them or to operate the reins. When it was time to move up the row someone would shout "getup." The horses would go until someone shouted, "Whoa," then they would stop and wait for further instructions. No tractor would do that.
Summer, 1948 This is a load of corn, as we picked it, shuck and all. The next step would be to haul it into town to the mill where it would be ground, cob, shuck and all, some Molasses mixed in, and sacked. The dairy cows thought is was delicious and to show their appreciation gave us lots of milk.	Fanny and Bill at work
This was my saddle horse, "Ole Blue" with me on her back. Picture taken in summer of 1952. My parents weren't exactly happy about a horse around that didn't earn its keep. I used Ole Blue for cattle work, but mostly as an excuse for keeping her. Most of our cattle herding was done with dogs.
In addition to the dairy farm that my dad owned, he leased a ranch in 1954 and this horse, "Ole Red" came with it. This is us at the "old watering hole," sometime during the winter of 1954. I put a lot of miles on that horse between May of '54, when I graduated from high school and Feb. 1955 when I entered the Army. . . . Jim