Sam's Story 2

Part 2 Sam the Ham
(Go to Part 1)

I love a Parade!
Sam was well known all over the city from our parades and horse shows. We would walk down the street in a parade and hear little voices from the sidelines call out,
“Look, mommy! There’s Sam! Hi Sam!”


Staging area for a local parade

Sam LOVED parades. He loved the crowds, the applause, and especially the kids. He knew exactly how much space to leave behind the previous float. He would automatically stop when the unit in front of him stopped, keeping the spacing. Nothing blew his cool. Balloons, sirens, horns, wild Indians, bands, gunfights…he took them all in stride. In one parade, they were tossing cowboy hats off the float in front of us. It was a windy day and the wind would catch the hats and blow them back under Sam’s feet, hotly pursued by a flock of kids. I nearly had heart failure, but Sam took it all with equanimity. He would stop when the kids rushed up, stand perfectly still while they crawled under him or the surrey to retrieve the hat, then close up to the proper distance and walk sedately on.


Trotting back to the parking area after a parade


There’s No Business Like Show Business
If there was something Sam loved more than parades, it had to be horse shows. He was a halter champion in his youth, and developed a taste for the spotlight. As soon as we would start bathing, clipping and braiding, he knew he was going on stage. There aren’t many drafts in Arizona, so we only had one draft show a year. The rest of the time we showed in regular pleasure driving classes and antique carriage classes with our surrey.

In the annual draft horse show, we competed in cart, antique vehicle, reinsmanship, obstacles, log pull, and gambler’s choice. The grandchildren drove in junior reinsmanship. His best obstacle was the 360 degree spin. With one wheel in a hula hoop, he would spin the cart in a full circle without coming out of the hoop. He could do that spin faster than any other horse, and it won us many a gambler’s choice class.

In regular driving shows, we competed against light horses, including miniatures. Sam loved the little guys, and they seemed to like him too.



We also competed in antique carriage classes in major open shows. In addition, we were often called upon to bring the judges into the arena in our surrey for the evening performances at open shows.

Sam loved showing. The more the audience clapped and cheered, the more he would strut. When Sam put it in high gear the ground shook! He would really pull out all the stops on a “victory lap.”



Sam’s victory lap in Antique Carriage class at Carousel Horse Show

Sam always knew when he was being admired, and loved every minute of it

Part 3 Family Man