Chapter 2: The end of high school and Saratoga summer

       I was always a hard worker and went over and above what was asked of me no matter what the pay was. When Dad and I worked together there was no pay, and that created a problem when I turned 16 and started driving. Actually, he did buy me my first car. It was a 1967, canary yellow, Dodge Dart convertible. The old man was inside the sellers house writing out the check for $750(if my memory is correct) while I focused on the more important job of getting the top down. I guess I could have asked the previous owner, but, it seemed simple enough. Anyway, the top was almost all the way tucked in when I heard an awful explosion! The back window was supposed to be zipped down first and since I didn't know that it had just disintegrated. I drove that car less than a year when I wanted to upgrade to something roomier. I found the coolest Dodge conversion van that had been all pimped out with big fat tires and a racing engine. It was loud and fast and would pass anything but a gas station!! My friends gave it the nickname of the "ASM", which stood for "Awesome Sex Machine" which it may have been for them, but, not so much for me;( The point is that to support my van and insurance, and the rest of my unbelievable social life I had to have a job that actually paid. That's when my buddy Ken Palmer hired me to take care of his 5 horses while he started a horse shoeing business. I worked for him my Senior year on the co op program. I attended school half a day and then went to work. Kenny trained for his father and grandfather and didn't charge them much more than his expenses. I started out at $70.00 per week and then after a while I got a raise to $90.00. I know that sounds like a lot of money, I though so too! An old timer named Leo LaPage went to the Ohio sale and bought a mare named Warringtons Queen and asked Kenny to get her ready to race. One day we were heading out of the barn to train a trip and she spotted Ken down the path on his way to the track with another horse. In her haste to catch up she forgot about me and I was more or less water skiing behind her on the ice before I fell and was dragged and finally cut the biotch loose! She galloped from the fairgrounds into the town of Manchester, headed down route 7 toward the Village and we finally caught her in a housing development. The jog cart was still attached and she didn't have a scratch on her! I also remember Kenny and I standing up in the jog cart seats while jogging because there had been a picture of Herve Filion doing it with Hot Hitter after winning the Little Brown Jug. We somehow managed to do that without getting killed! We had an old Australian horse named Beau Chief A who was so lame with sesamoiditis that I used to just take him into the creek and wade with him for a while after he raced. He was so tough that he hardly ever missed the board! I liked him so much that one day Kenny had to ship him out to Vernon to race and I had to get the barn work done. I rushed through the work and picked up my best friend Jill with my moms Chrysler New Yorker, and we absolutely flew out through Albany and the NY Thruway in time to make the post parade. He won, we got our picture taken, and we left. Probably spent 15 minutes there in total, but, it was worth it! Tomorrow I will continue this chapter and write about the Garnsey Stable and moving away from home.