Saturday

out to pasture ~

Did you have a hobby horse, or as we called them ~ a bouncy horse when you were a child?

That beautiful little steed you could ride to wherever your imagination would take you.



















I didn't have one ... but do recall asking my parents for one, to which I got a reply from my Daddy, "Why would you want one of  those plastic ponies when you have the real thing?" 



True ... we always had horses on the farm.  Dad always called them "hay burners"... but I know he loved those horses as much as the rest of us.  When he was younger he rode a quite often, as did I.  I miss those times.

Here's one of my favorite pics that I made into a scrapbook page of myself and my brother Doug and my sisters Colleen and Cheryl. I was only 8 years old then.


Well... back to the original storyline about this post.  Out to pasture ... 

Driving through Illinois on Hwy 24 ,near the town of Fairbury, there is an unusual sight.  










A row of hobby horses that are past there prime and have been put out to pasture.


According to Roadside America ... it began when a farmer put a carousel horse in a field as a marker.  Since then other hobby horses began appearing mysteriously ... usually under the cover of darkness.  

 (these two images from the internet)

When we saw them the first time most of them were standing up ... but on our way home it was very windy and half of them were knocked down.  I hope someone stands them up again.  

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

4 comments:

  1. This is a new wrinkle in my horn. Never heard of this, but I like it. We have seen the famous 'Cadillac Ranch', a more planned saved 'Destruction' of antiques. Also along I-4 in Florida some one had buried Air Stream trailers in the pattern of the Caddys.
    But this you have is definitely different, and more interesting. voluntarily done.
    No I didn't have a hobby horse nor the real thing. But I was a cowboy at heart and sure wanted a horse. The closest thing I had was a stick horse. The head was even imaginary. LOL.
    I like this. THANKS!!!

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  2. No hobby horse for me but we bought a rocking horse for our first daughter then we passed it down to the next one. Now the oldest redid it and has it in her house. I like this post too.

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  3. I always wanted one also, and yes, we had horses growing up also. That is pretty cool about all of the horses showing up in the field.

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  4. These must be the horses you were talking about. When you were talking about them I thought you meant real horses. No one explained it was carousel and hobby horses. It's kind of neat and disturbing all in one lol. I'll have to keep my eyes open next time I go through there because after all the trips that way I have never seen the horses.

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