DID YOU KNOW - Grandpa Fin loved horses?

Leo Finlinson

How we loved Grandpa Fin! He was never too busy to spend time with the grandchildren. He usually had several families of little pigs to show them. The grandchildren were always included in the barnyard chores - gathering eggs, feeding the chickens and other farm animals and helping him with the milking of cows. 

Sometimes he would line 6 to 8 grandchildren against the wall in the milking shed and tell them to open their mouths. As they stood there, he would aim a milk-swollen udder at them and spray their faces with warm, fresh milk. Little of the milk made it to the ultimate target, but the grandchildren did not notice.

A trip to Oak City was never complete unless the grandchildren got to ride on a horse with Grandpa Fin. He was never too busy to lift a grandchild up on the horse behind him and give them a ride around the farm. This might include splashing around an irrigation ditch, riding through the orchard and grabbing a green apple of the low hanging  branches or hanging tightly to Grandpa Fin's waist as he galloped the horse up the steep banks of the reservoir.

L to R: Sarah, Lyman holding Joe, Grandpa Fin,
On horse: Sara Rae, Sylvia, Diane, Kathleen, Kathy, Susan, Mason

The best remembered of Grandpa's horses was Stardust. He loved to load Stardust with as many grandchildren as he could and sometimes as many as 8 'little people' would be crowded on Stardust's back as he lead the horse around in circles.

Stardust was the colt of a black mare that Uncle Lyman and his cousin, Burnis Finlinson, found roaming wild near Fool Creek Pass. Lyman traded Burnis something in exchange for his one-half interest in the black mare. Later, the mare gave birth to Stardust. Lyman gave Stardust to Richard as a birthday present when it was just a colt.

Grandpa Fin had trained her, as he had done with many other horses, to jump into the back of the pickup. One time, after coming back from the Flat, after checking on some cattle, as Grandpa was backing up the truck before loading Stardust, he accidentally clipped Stardust's leg with the back bumper. 

Descendancy

Leo Finlinson (1883-1967)

Richard Lyman Finlinson

Diane Finlinson

Sources

Book: Keep Pullin' Ralph, The History of Leo & Lydia Finlinson, 1883 to 1967, compiled by William Finlinson Atkin, p. 80-82, 114-115
Memories of Richard Lyman Finlinson, son