Tanner

All her life, Jeanie had a mansion of a dream to own a beautiful steed like the book "Black Stallion" or the other book "Black Beauty." In downtown Houston in the fifties there was a five and dime store called Woolsworth. Ever-so-often her mom would put her on the bus and they would go riding downtown to visit her doctor. As a child Jeanie had asthma and the hives, but going to the doctor was a treat. She got a ten-cent horse that stood about three inches tall from that great downtown store. Oh, and they had a soda fountain too.

The front yard flower bed was her Wild West. It was complete with fence made from sticks and rocks were used for mountains. The inside of a small match box was her wagon without wheels. The large match boxes were big enough for the stables. Jeanie used both sizes. If her mother would let her, she would spend hours in the flower bed with her little horses. Also riding a mop handle with a rope for reins saying, "Gitti-up" and "Whoa" made her sister mad.

"Mom, if anybody loves me, they will get me a horse," Jeanie said in her pitiful voice.

"No place to keep it and not enough money to feed it," Mom replied.

One fine day in March, Jeanie got married and her husband bought her the perfect horse. A bay colored, black legged, Spanish pony about fourteen hands high with a good gait who held his head and tail high. Tanner was the right name for this young gelding. With a good brushing, he shined like a copper penny or at least a man with a tan.

Now, Jeanie could ride whenever her heart desired. That mansion of a dream finally came true.