San Francisco Mounted Unit
May 17, 2018
Golden Gate Park
(415) 752-6255
Dear Officers,
Thank you so much for still being there at the barn. I grew-up in San Francisco, California at 815
Balboa and then my mother moved our family to 22 – 22nd Avenue, West
Clay Park.
The fact that I boarded my pony Freckles at the Stables/Paddocks has
brought today to a bit of history however a good hello on Tuesday the 15th
of May delivers it to the now as well, so history is now present and in
accounted. The thought that so much
history between your barn and myself growing-up makes me still think today
about that ‘Green Fountain’ out front that is still standing keel today. Many a stern looks came my way right around
that area, as I was allowed to ride the trails, gallop the Track and school in
the Arena’s at-will back in the day. My
family was extremely busy as my mother was a bit of what is referred to now as
a Church Leader/Pastor however back then she would have been called a Cult
Leader (Melba M. Meakin, died January 11th, 2017). To date the day would envelope a time in
approximate, as I was born in 1965 at Children’s Hospital on California Street
during the height of the 1960’s strangeness that was taking place in The
Haight. To remember those days is in
combination painful and stressful, the fact that your barn gave any guidance to
a kid like me was indeed a solid contact as everyone else was a bit odd, I
refer to all those cults, drugs and odd sit-in’s that people would have
regularly. So, to recall 1973 as a the
year to “The Paddocks” (down the road
from The Stables above a Meadow off John F. Kennedy Drive) for my pony Freckles
and I, as she was being boarded (Freckles was a P.O.A. purchased by my older
sister Tam for $250.00 out of Petaluma, California as a Christmas present; and
delivered to me with a red ribbon in her forelock at 815 Balboa on Christmas
Day) at The Paddocks during that time.
However Tam my older sister would be the person to say the date specific
as she boarded her Thoroughbred and Quarter-thoroughbred Dare Me Devil (Gila)
and Jet to Frisco (Frisco) at the Stables before that time making are actual
time of introduction at the barn with the Officers circa 1971 or thereabouts.
Missing those Officers makes me appreciate the time they took to ensure
my safety in a park that my family allowed me to ride alone at anytime. Remembering the trails that we were not
allowed to ride makes me laugh as being a kid in the midst of those particular
times always delivered one of those Officers as a reminder, it was magic, so I
thought. In-addition, I used to love to
jump the crooks of trees and also to jump picnic tables, and yet those Cops
were always in the find and those looks still burn my effort today in memory of
giggling a bit. Their care was only
obvious later in life as I became a Three-day Eventer. In missing those Cops the following story
shared is as such, I would get a little over-faced by fences and the Trainer’s
would always just say do it and that was a bit different than those silent
looks of ‘what are you doing’ and ‘hello, how are you today’. I was bothersome most times however
confidence in training lead the way to path and confidence to their prowess of
wisdom in all circumstance gave my point of memory to their heel always. Those simple reminders in memory alone gave
my life the path of onward forward without the fear that often inhabits kids
born during troublesome eras. Thanks are
still in an order as those Cops would have required nothing less from a kid
that they trained from stop to go.
Sincerely yours,
Karen A. Placek
No comments:
Post a Comment