Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The C.W. Allmand Pony Farm


By
J. Bryan Wasson

When I joined the Abilene (Texas) Police Department in 1954, one of my fellow officers was J.O. Gill. It was through J.O. Gill that I met his step-father, C.W. Allmand. At the time I met C.W. Allmand, he raised both registered and grade Shetland Ponies, Hackney ponies and miniature mules on his Pony Farm at Ovalo, Texas. Ovalo is also the home of western entertainer and recording artist Jean Prescott. Ovalo is located on highway 83 a few miles south of Abilene. The Allmand family had moved from Grassbur to Ovalo in 1948.

My friend Melvin Faircloth who lives south of Abilene on Highway 36 in Callahan County has a much earlier recollection of C.W. Allmand. His first recollection of C.W. Allmand was in 1936 when as a small child his family moved from the Shep community to Grassbur in a wagon pulled by a team of horses. Melvin was sitting atop a load of furniture. They stopped at the store owned and operated by C.W. Allmand and his wife Margie. Mr. Allmand came out and gave Melvin a great big red apple.

In addition to the Pony Farm, C.W. Allmand also owned the general store at Ovalo. At that store, you could purchase groceries, feed, seed, fertilizer, hardware and anything from horse shoes to ice cream.

Although I had been a horse owner since about age 7, I had not developed a strong interest in donkeys, mules and hinnies until I was in the 7th grade. In about 1957, I went into the Shetland pony business, breeding and showing Shetland Ponies. When I went into the Shetland business, my knowledge of showing Shetlands was zero. It was then that J.O. Gill introduced me to C.W. Allmand. Both C.W. Allmand and J.O. Gill taught me the ins and outs of showing Shetlands.

The first Shetland mare I purchased was a paint named Patches. Patches resulted in my interest in Paint horses, which led to my going into the Paint horse business. I became very active in the establishment of the American Paint Quarter Horse Association which later merged with the American Paint Stock Horse Association into what is now the American Paint Horse Association.

It was while I was in the Shetland business that I purchased my first donkey, a young jennet that I named Jenny Lou. I had considered setting up a pony ride as an adjunct to my pony showing business. I had noticed that many pony rides contained at least one donkey and that the donkey seemed to control the speed of the pony ride as well as serving as the brakes for the pony ride. No matter what loud noise or distraction, the ponies could not turn that ride wheel faster than the speed of the donkey. The donkey also seemed to have a calming effect on the ponies.

I made frequent trips with J.O. Gill to the C.W. Allmand Pony Farm at Ovalo. It was there that C.W. Allmand introduced me to his miniature jacks and his mini-mules. C.W. owned numerous two wheeled carts, buggies and wagons. He often hitched up a team of his little mules and sometimes even a 4-up hitch and off we would go for an afternoon drive. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I think sometimes even a 6-up hitch of his little mules were hitched to a wagon. These visits to the Allmand Pony Farm whetted my appetite for donkey and mule ownership.

Sometime after we moved away from Abilene, C.W. Allmand switched from raising Shetlands to Miniature horses, Mediterranean donkeys and pygmy goats.

C.W. Allmand passed away passed away January 9, 1998 J.O. Gill passed away October 26, 2001.

Not long ago while visiting our longtime friends, Melvin and Ginger Fairclothwho live in Calahan County south of Abilene, we passed through Ovalo. This brought back many fond memories of the C.W. Allmand Pony Farm. I greatly miss C.W. Allmand, J.O Gill and all the great times I had with them.

Sept. 26, 2006, JBW
© Copyright 2006, J. Bryan Wasson

Previously published in The Brayer magazine

No comments:

Post a Comment