AUSTIN ALLEY-

Inside this CD is the great music we all love. On the outside is nother love story about a Mustang, named One Eyed Jack.

It's been over 20 years sense I first saw One Eyed Jack. I was writing the Horse Sense column, life was good and my family and I had been successful with every horse we had trained. I was going to the Thanksgiving roundup where the Bureau of Land Management presented hundreds of horses for adoption in Susanville.

I was looking for a quality mare to be my primary personal horse.
After careful searching I found a golden chestnut filly. She constantly moved between the herd and a scrawny colt, protecting him against the fence."That colt will die when you take the filly," the cowhand told me, "Got his eye kicked out trying to suckle from the wrong mare when he got separated from his Ma. That filly has been protecting him.

Her Ma musta had a new colt when they were runnin free or she wouldn't take to him like that. The colt is already so low he'd have to get a ladder to kick the hind end of a snake."

As the horses moved I could get a better look at the colt and it wasn't good. A guy from the office approached, "The Humane Society is here," he said. "That bummer colt will be the story they'll blame us for and whip us with. An ounce of help wouldbe worth a pound of preachin.""Load the colt in my rig with the filly." I responded.
"Are ya sure?" he quizzed. "Yes, but don't charge me for him. He's going to cost me enough already." "Yes, Mame." He drawled, and it was a done deal.

On the way home I wondered how I was going to intellectually, financially and emotionally justify what I had just done, but something inside of me just couldn't feel bad about it. I called the colt One Eyed Jack. I figured his luck depended on how I played the hand life had dealt him.

I spent time daily earning the friendship of little Jack, touching him, feeding him and earning his trust. It wasn't easy because I had to succeed with all of that first with my over protective filly, just to get near him.
In time I could handle Jack's entire body, picking up his feet and putting things on him. I took him to the vet and assisted in his operation, keeping him calm, safe and secure while he was gelded and his eye lid was sewn shut to protect the socket from flies and infection.
When Jack was himself again, I had him carrying rag dolls and blankets. I lay two by twelve boards in patterns and had him walk on them. When he miscalculated and stepped off it would jar him. It wasn't long before he didn't miscalculate. I would show him a half open gate, leaving the metal latch out; I would lead him through it. If he miscalculated, the latch would hit him. It wasn't long before he gauged it perfectly, even on his blind side while carrying a pillow pack.
An article I had written in the Equestrian created interest in the colt and a man wanted him for his petite wife. Jack was small and would never grow large enough for my personal use, so I agreed to let him have Jack ONLY if he abided the psychological training rules and never broke Jack's trust. I explained that Jack must have a clear vision before he proceeded and must trust his handler if they were to get the performance from him that they wanted. After teaching the new owners the psychology of Jack's training, I let them have Jack.
Two days later a frantic voice on the phone demanded, "Come get this wild horse, before de destroys our barn. He's kicking the boards out and he's not even inside. You'll never catch him."
"I'll be right there," I promised, knowing that Jack needed me. I also knew the new owner had broken Jack's trust.
When I arrived, I opened the back of my truck. Jack saw me and came running. As he neared the gate the new owner stepped toward him. Jack circled and ran the opposite direction.
"You can't catch him, "the fellow said anxiously.
"Please stand over there, "I requested, "and let me open the gate."
He backed away. I opened the gate. Jack ran straight to me, rubbed his face on me briefly, and then ran past me, through the gate and into my truck. There he stayed.
Then I asked what happened.
The upset cowboy said he went through the gate leading Jack behind his pony horse. Instead of letting Jack fall back and see the width of the gate, he pulled him in close and dallied the rope around the saddle horn, pressing Jack's good eye into the rump of his riding horse. He pulled Jack into the gate post. Jack pulled back. The pony horse drug Jack forward crashing him into the post again. Jack jumped back violently. The pony horse bolted. The saddle cinch broke. The rider crashed into the opposite post as he fell. Both horses ran from the cursing angry cowboy, who soon tried to rope Jack to retrieve him. Jack feared that lariat, believing the devil himself was after him, he ran for his life. The cowboy was cursing and running after Jack with his lariat swinging wide.
In an attempt to escape, Jack tried to jump a six foot chain link fence. He missed the top by a foot and sent himself sprawling over the fence into a disheveled heap on the pavement on the other side. The cowboy stopped to note Jack's condition. Jack scrambled to his feet and ran .In time Jack returned to be near the other horse.
When he passed through the same gate where all the trouble started, the chase was on again. The cowboy finally landed a rope over Jack's head, secured it over a tree branch and begins to choke Jack down. The rope broke. The tree branch broke. Jack ran.
Soon a second rope settled over Jack's head. It was quickly braced around a large tree. The fight was on. Jack reared up and pulled back repeatedly until he fell. He pulled back harder when on the ground. The noose tightened on his neck, cutting off his air supply. Jack was strangling. It was obvious that he would die before yielding to his new owner. Reluctantly the cowboy cut his rope.
Later, every time Jack ran past the barn he would kick the boards .He broke several of them. That's when the cowboy called me.
I knew Jack didn't need a tough guy. He probably just needed a sensitive girl.
My friend Anita Huff had several horses. Her training skills and kindness were impressive. Her husband Dave was small enough to ride Jack, so that was his next home. I still took Jack into the mountains and taught him how to carry a real pack in challenging places. He accepted every challenge with excellence.
Jack blossomed and grew at Dave and Anita's. They taught him how to pull a cart. They also shared their knowledge of horses with young people who were drawn there to experience that joy.
A little girl fell in love with Jack. She started spending a lot of time with him. Soon she was riding him in gymkhanas and racing him on the beach. The girl and the horse bonded. The pair became inseparable.
This story begins twenty years ago. Today that little girl is grown but she still has Jack
No one thought Jack would be a winner with the hand that was dealt to him. Some said One Eyed Jack was plum out of aces, but he out lived the horses he rode in with and is now immortalized on the cover of Austin Alley's new CD. That little girl, whose love filled Jack's life with peace and joy, is Austin Alley's Daughter.
I believe if you see potential, if opportunity knocks, you've gotta get up off your behind and let it in. Maybe, just maybe, Lady Luck does smile on those who keep an eye out for her.