A Forgotten Horseman: A Son's Weekend Memoir

When I was sixteen, I held my dad's hands while on my knees pleading to God for him not to die. "Dad, dad, dad," I cried out, as he lay there on his back with his hands and fingers in firm position grasping the reins of a five gait mare.He was in a place of contentment as he spoke,"Whoa mare, that's a girl " and made those familiar clicking sounds I often heard when I was a little boy watching him ride the horses everyday in the summer. Then in a calm moment, with his hands gently relaxed in mine, his face revealed a soft smile and he took his last breath and his last ride. My father, Thomas Downing was a horse trainer, one of the forgotten horsemen who was raised in the Saddlebred kingdom of North Middletown Kentucky. He had a natural, uncanny and remarkable gift of relating to horses, proven by the trust and confidence exhibited by the horses toward him. Although my dad was a man of few words, his true voice, a voice that spoke volumes, was spoken within his work and accomplishments with the horses he trained. He often preferred to spend time with the horses over most people and it was that bond which enabled him to train the horses so effectively. This book is about a summer weekend I spent as a ten year old boy helping my father at a horse show and the invaluable lessons of life I learned from my dad and his fellow forgotten horsemen, who a contemporary of theirs called them, " Great Men with Great Horses". It was over this weekend I would learn more about my father, horses, and life than I ever thought imaginable.