THE RIDE AND TIE TRIP THAT FAILED ~ James L. Jacobs

  My grandfather loved the old pioneer way of traveling called “ride and tie.” When two travelers had but one horse, one would start hiking and the other would ride. The horseman would ride a half-mile or so at a fast clip, then tie up the horse and start out afoot. The hiker would catch up to the horse, mount him and ride a distance past his companion, tie the horse up and again start walking. They continued to ride and tie until they reached their destination. Grandpa and I had been logging timber all week on the mountain near Towhead Peak. On Saturday evening we started to ride and tie the ten miles home to Mt. Pleasant for the weekend. Grandpa told me to ride to the forks of the canyon and tie the horse there, and start walking. I decided that was too far for his first walk, so I disobeyed him by tying the horse on the roadside only half way to the forks and hurried on afoot. I thought Grandpa would find the horse and soon ride past me. He never did. I walked all the way home and worried that he did not come. Long after dark, Grandpa walked into our home and said, “Golly sakes, boy, what did you do with the horse?” I remorsefully explained that I had ridden a shorter distance than he had told me so he would not have to walk so far. Instead of walking down the road as I expected, he had followed the creek to the forks, so had bypassed the horse and walked the ten miles home. Next morning my friend took me on his pony up the mountain to the tied-up horse and I rode him home. I resolved never to disobey Grandpa again.

Source: Personal recollections of the author.