I found out years later it was Blisard.

With the temperatures cooling down a little, let me tell you about a Blizzard I once experienced.

His name was Vernon Blizzard. He worked with my grandmother Ruby at the State School that was in West Austin in the early 60s.

I don’t know what Vernon did at work but away from work he traded in Shetland Ponies. He didn’t just deal in them he was was a major Shetland Pony Trafficker. If you, like many parents of that day wanted your child to have a Shetland Pony you went to Vernon Blizzard to get your fix.

I remember Vernon being married, I even remember what Mrs. Blizzard looked like, but she didn’t really ever enter into the picture. Heck, maybe he traded her for some Shetlands.

The problem with Shetlands was their temperament. When you had a mean one, it could be a real chore to teach them to behave. With a big horse when it came to breaking them to be ridden, there were cowboys around to do that. But with Shetlands a big ole cowboy couldn’t ride them.

So here is where Kenny and Ronnie came into play. Vernon was introduced to us. We were about 8 and 10 when we started. He would bring us several horses at a time and it was our job to make them kid friendly. I’m going to tell you up front that Kenny Lewis was the horseman of the family. He had a passion for horses. I was more of a donkey kind of kid, but you weren’t going to make a living breaking donkeys. So while I didn’t care about riding that must, I was thrust into it as a job and a way to earn a little money.

It seems like Vernon would keep about a dozen Shetlands at our place that needed work.

That old place, it was 65 acres of the hilliest rockiest ground anywhere around Austin. We were just a little ways out of Jollyville.

Learning how to stay on the back of those creatures was made easier by the fact that if you got bucked off more than likely you’d land in a rock pile. In many rock piles were Copperheads and Rattlesnakes. We became pretty adept at staying on.

I think the way things generally worked was we put a saddle on it and Kenny would lead it around until it was used to the saddle. At which point I’d get on and he’d still lead it around in the pen for awhile. Then when we felt the time was right we’d would head on out to the pasture.

Today we have the horse whisperer. That is a very popular way to train and deal with horse attitudes.
Kenny was like that back in the day, before that term was even coined. Except he was the Shetland hollerer. That boy could make more noise and get madder than any human alive.
Most of the time it was directed at me but at times I’d feel sorry for the poor animal being belittled like that.

Kenny was a good horse trainer and has remained so throughout his life. As for me I never graduated past Shetlands when it came to riding and breaking. Falling off one of those short legged things hurt enough. I sure wasn’t wanting to fall off of a big horse.

The Last Time We Ever Saw Vernon Blizzard

In the late 1980’s it had been a long time since we had moved on from Jollyville and breaking Shetlands for Vernon. One day I decided it would be good to find him, if he was still living. I was able to get a phone number on him and gave Vernon a call. Soon thereafter Kenny and I drove to Elgin to pay Vernon a visit.

It was a great reunion as I remember it. He had spent several years as a Bastrop Co. Constable and had long moved on from the Shetland pony business.

When we got up to leave that afternoon we were standing on his front porch. Kenny looked up and saw a pair of spurs hanging from the ceiling joist. He remarked that he, Kenny, had a pair exactly like them. Vernon reached up pulled them down and handed them to me, saying “well you boys both need a pair then” and handed to me.

I kept those spurs in a drawer for years, for safe keeping. One day, a few years ago, I got them out and took them to Kenny so he could match them up with his.

I was headed out to see my friend Howdy Fowler in West Texas a few months ago where he was putting on a Bit and Spur Show in Alpine, Texas. Remembering the Vernon Blisard Spurs, I called Kenny and got him to send me a picture of them, so hopefully I could get them identified by some knowledgeable spur people.

I found out that what he had handed me was a pair of Buermann Spurs. The first picture is the actual spurs. The next 2 photos are examples of other Buermann Spurs. It seems that they are very collectible.

We left that day and I don’t think that Kenny or I ever spoke to Vernon again. Shortly after I saw his obituary in the Austin paper.

It made me very proud that we made that effort to go see him when we did.