BooksBarbecue
Back Kick the Latch
Chapters (92)
  1. KICK THE LATCH
  2. ONE
  3. SOLID PLASTER
  4. THE OLD MAN
  5. IT WASN’T HIS FAULT
  6. MILK BONES
  7. BICYCLE JENNY
  8. TWO
  9. THE JOCKEY
  10. THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE
  11. BANG!
  12. I HAD MY SPILLS
  13. MY PAINT HORSE
  14. KIND OF FUNNY, A REAL CLOWN, AN ORNERY SON OF A BUCK
  15. THREE
  16. A LITTLE WIND-UP CLOCK
  17. SHORT-IRON
  18. DIRT TRACK, FLAT LAND, RAMSHACKLE BACKSTRETCH
  19. I WOULDN’T BARELY BREAK
  20. NOTHING NICE
  21. KEY TO THE QUARTER POLE
  22. GALLON OF BLOOD
  23. NUTS AND BOLTS
  24. BIG OLD HOLE
  25. I SEEN HIM EVERY DAY
  26. FOUR
  27. PICKLED BOILED EGGS
  28. THANKSGIVING
  29. ENOUGH
  30. CALL YOUR OWNERS, CALL HOME
  31. HAMBURGERS
  32. OUR PERSONAL ATTITUDES
  33. FIVE
  34. I OUTGREW THE POSITION
  35. THEY GET CHILLY
  36. THIS JOCK PACKS, THAT JOCK PACKS
  37. GRANDSTANDING
  38. BLACK SHOE POLISH
  39. SIX
  40. EVERYTHING MYSELF
  41. WASHED, BATHED, GOOD CARE
  42. YOU CHECK IT, YOU SHAKE IT
  43. A THOUSAND POUNDS OF PRESSURE
  44. WE’RE HUNGRY!
  45. STRAIGHT OFF THE GOAT
  46. SEVEN
  47. I KNOW WHAT I KNOW
  48. THEY GET THEIR HEADS JERKED OFF
  49. I THINK YOU’LL BE SAD
  50. BOBBLE, BOBBLE
  51. YOU CAN’T BLAME A MAN
  52. THIS HORSE, THIS RACE
  53. EIGHT
  54. RACETRACKERS
  55. FANCY SUITS, FANCY BOOTS
  56. PAUPER’S HILL
  57. THE OLD LADY
  58. JAKE THE PRINCE
  59. C’MON, CHARLIE!
  60. THE BIG DRINK
  61. WHERE’S THORBY?
  62. MIRACLE PERSON
  63. HE WAS LIVING HIGH
  64. I DIDN’T WANT NO DRAMA
  65. NINE
  66. THE RODEO STUNT
  67. HUNTERS AND JUMPERS
  68. TEN
  69. I WAS GIVEN A CHOICE
  70. THEY’D RATHER HAVE THE PISS
  71. STOP MY WORLD, LADY!
  72. STUPID CAMERAS, BIG LIGHTS
  73. GRAB THAT THING
  74. MILLIONS
  75. IT WAS HARD LIVING
  76. I TRIED TO BE A NORMAL PERSON
  77. THE HORSE TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE
  78. ELEVEN
  79. MISTER BAKER
  80. THIS SUCKER
  81. WITH THE MEN
  82. LA VEDETTE
  83. HER BLACK MOUSTACHE
  84. BLONDE, CUTE, BIG DIMPLES
  85. TWELVE
  86. ONAKONA
  87. BAD WEATHER OR NOT
  88. IT AIN’T LIKE A CAT
  89. PERENNIALS
  90. REMEMBER THIS?
  91. A PARTICULAR LANGUAGE
  92. AFTERWORD

You try things. Maybe give them just a little handful. Maybe feed the others first. You show up, you’re barely awake, it’s four o’clock, but they’re all banging and boy — they’re whinnying, Good morning, here we are, we’re hungry! If there’s one who’s off his feed, you let him sit there and think about it. You let his mouth water, watching the others eat first.

It’s like if you’re fasting and nervous before blood work and you see a bunch of people munching on fresh cinnamon rolls and drinking coffee — suddenly you can’t wait to get some, too. If you’re sick to your stomach and somebody brings you a big tray of food, you say, Get it out of here! But if they bring you a half piece of dry toast or a little cup of soup, you think, I can do this. Gradually you get yourself back in your feed tub.

STRAIGHT OFF THE GOAT

At Deerheart, Nebraska, we all ran around in golf carts — from the backside of the barns up to the racing office, over to the kitchen and that. Bobbie Mackintosh milked Winnie the goat, who was a mascot for a racehorse called Springtime Notion. When she wasn’t in her stall with Springtime, Winnie’d jump on Bobbie’s golf cart and away they’d go.

I was having a terrible time with my stomach, and one day Bobbie heard me complaining about it. She said, Sonia, have some goat milk. She gave it to me straight off the goat — nasty, not pasteurized or nothing — but right away my stomach felt better, and then I was fine.

If you’re sick, you wait for the veterinarians to come around and treat you, too. The jockeys got B12 shots before each race — three, four B12 shots a day. You’d say, Oh, I’m exhausted, and the vet’d give you a B12 shot. If you had a bad tooth you pulled it yourself.

Once I was up for five wins in a row with Miss Sotmoore — she was one of my best mares — but I had a fever and I could hardly move.

Another trainer said, If you want to come over, I’ll have Mom give you a shot of — I don’t know what it was. It might’ve been cattle antibiotics. This fellow happened to live about twelve miles from the track so I went home with him and bent over the kitchen sink and his mom gave me the shot. Within three hours I was a new person. I got to see my horse run, and we won our fifth in a row.

SEVEN

I KNOW WHAT I KNOW