Wild Ride on a Yearling Colt

In the yard close to the house on the ranch, we had a wooden stock feeder. The base of the feeder was about 5 or 6 feet wide and about 10 or 12 feet long. We would put the hay in this part of the feeder. The feeder had wooden slats spaced around the perimeter like a wooden fence. The horses and cows could reach through the slats to eat the hay. 

This feeder also had a raised platform above the feeder (about 10 feet off the ground). We could put a few bales of hay inside the feeder and several bales of hay on the top of the platform above the feeder. This allowed us to have hay for feeding across a few days because the stock could not reach the platform. 

Cade and I were feeding the stock in the yard. We were about 12 and 13 years old. We took several hay bales to the feeder using the loader tractor. Then we climbed over the loader to get on the platform to remove the strings from the bales and put the loose hay in the feeder.  

We had a few steers in the yard. But we also had all of the yearling colts in the yard. While we were feeding, we decided it would be fun to drop down off of the platform onto the back of one of the colts so we could ride it. (None of the colts were broke yet.) We strategically decided that we would drop down onto Dolly's colt. 

We were concerned about falling off the colt and getting tromped by the rest of the colts as they all crowded around the feeder. So, we took two twine strings from the hay bales. We tied one end of the string to a belt loop on the side of my pants. We tied the other end of the twine string around the board at the edge of the platform. The idea was that I would drop down from the platform onto the back of the colt. 

When the colt was right under me, I dropped off of the platform. 

The colt saw me coming and jumped out of the way. 

So...I did not land on the colt. 

Instead, I continued falling until I reached the length of the twine string that was tied to my belt loops. A number of things happened simultaneously as I reached the length of the twine. 

1. My pants were jerked into a tight wedgie.
2. The belt loops broke.
3. I crashed to the ground. 
4. The twine string pulled the board off the platform.
5. The falling board struck me on top of the head. 

Cade jumped down from the top of the feeder and asked if I was alright. Although my rear was sore from the wedgie and my head was sore from the board, I was laughing so hard I could not reply. It was so funny to me as I lay on the ground that just a few seconds before, Cade and I thought it was a good idea to drop from the top of the feeder onto one of the colts! 

I found this picture of a feeder that is similar to the one from the story. Imagine the roof of this feeder as the same width as the feeder. Then imagine Cade and me dropping from the top onto the back of one of those two horses.