The Cop That Said He Was 51 Said That All The Officers That I Was Looking For Were All Dead, I Cried That Day. I Really Thought One Of The Old Cops Would Have Still Been Alive So That. . .

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 – 22^nd 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 15^th 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 11^th, 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