Kids on horses...IT'S A CATEGORY

Kids on horses or ponies is definitely a category so I'm not sure why I don't always buy them. You know if I find a shot of people eating watermelon it's coming home with me; same with someone cutting a cake. But I often leave kids astride a poor pack animal in the bin. I need to rethink this. Sure, often the kids look less than thrilled. They're duded up in some cowboy duds and then stuck on a horse. The parents are smiling, the guy with the horse is trying to get the kid to smile, and the horse with one leg resting is just thinking, "What did I do to deserve this?" as the kids pees through the chaps and onto the horses back.


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Yeah, I think I need to rethink this category. There's more going on than what appears on the surface.

THIS is what made Seinfeld angry

I think maybe it's kids like this that annoyed Seinfeld. The ones whose doting parents bought them the whole get-up. They had the perfect hat and chaps and pony to sit on. Yeah, I can remember being jealous of kids who supposedly had ponies. I was also jealous of kids who had ponies show up just for their birthday party. I never went to one of those parties. I only heard about them through the 6 year old tin can grapevine. I can't imagine what kids feel these days with some parents doing all but renting Cirque de Soleil for their oh so special little ones. It's really gotten out of hand.

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Do you think when this little buckaroo was off the horse he would take a half step forward and then BAM! right down on his face? I mean, the chaps are too long little dude? They have to be a good 6 inches too long. Not a dignified way for a cowboy to walk. Perhaps he had to hold them up like the hem of a dress. Of course his folks said "He'll grow into them", but by then was he out of the whole cowboy infatuation? Did he sell them to get parts for a 56 Chevy?

For those interested in collecting vernacular photography I'm tellin' ya this is a category. Kids on horses. Kids on live horses. Or maybe kids on dime store stationary horses. That might be interesting to collect. Don't think I've ever come across a snapshot of a kid on a dime store horse. NOTE TO SELF...new category.

And to end today's buckaroo post I give you Ragtime Cowboy Joe done as only Lucy could do it. Here's to the 1950s kids who loved cowboys and cowgirls!