Belly
up to the Bar! by
Verne Albright |
Verne Albright decided in the 1960s to introduce the
Peruvian Paso breed to the United States, and prove the animals’
toughness at the same time. So he
rode them there.
Readers should note that Verne is 6’8” tall.
This is an extract from Verne’s excellent book, “The Long Way to Los Gatos”.
Panama
was the first country in Latin America where I had seen semi-truck-and-trailer
rigs. The drivers seemed unaware of
the effect their vehicles can have on horses, and most didn’t move over when
they passed us. The roar of their
engines was deafening, and the huge trailers created powerful wind currents that
pushed and pulled at us. It
surprised me that Hamaca seemed unconcerned when one of these giants passed
within a few feet of us, all eighteen tires screaming and sending chills up and
down my spine. That was a welcome
change from her shenanigans in Ecuador’s traffic.
I
spent the next night in a small storage room behind a combination general store
and saloon. After buying supplies
at the general store, I glanced into the adjoining saloon.
The store had been unremarkable, but the saloon was a different story.
I stepped inside to take a better look.
Hardly an expert on drinking establishments, I was pretty sure I’d
never see another like it.
At
that moment there were no customers. Neither
were there stools, chairs or any furnishings other than an extraordinarily tall
bar. If I had bellied up to it, I
would barely have been able to see over, not to mention that I would have had
very sore shoulders if I’d spent much time resting my elbows on the top.
The bartender stood on a raised floor on the opposite side.
He reminded me of a judge looking down on a defendant.
“Why
is the bar so tall?” I asked.
“You’ll
know as soon as you see a customer come through the door,” the bartender
answered with a mysterious smile.
The
saloon had two doors. The one that
connected it with the general store was unremarkable. The other, which opened onto the street, could easily have
admitted a truck.
“Couldn’t
you just tell me why everything is so big around here?” I asked.
“You’ll
soon see,” he assured me.
I looked down at the packed dirt floor and up at the ceiling, high above me. It was a puzzle worthy of Sherlock Holmes. In a land where few were taller than I had been in the fourth grade, here was a saloon of dimensions that dwarfed me. True to the bartender’s promise, the mystery was solved with the arrival of customers. They rode through the spacious door on horses and proceeded to the oversized bar where they were served while still sitting in their saddles.
Verne Albright was one of the first North Americans to be
captivated by the Peruvian Paso horses, and was instrumental in
introducing them to the United States.
Click on picture to enlarge. |
“May
we buy you a drink?” one said when he noticed me.
“Thank
you very much,” I responded, “but I don’t drink.”
The
man looked at me, his face carefully twisted into an expression indicating that
my answer meant I couldn’t be trusted.
“A
soft drink?” he offered.
“That
sounds wonderful,” I accepted, stepping up to the bar after speculating about
what he might think if I went to get one of my horses first.
The
bartender overlooked (so to speak!) the fact that I appeared to be a child
standing on his knees in a hole. He
leaned forward and reached down to hand me a cola.
To order a copy of “The Long Way to Los Gatos”, click here or call (403) 936-3185.
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