He was a simple farm boy, but he spoke the language. He became fluent at a young age. The language would bear with him through childhood, during young adulthood, and into his middle aged years.
During childhood, he learned the language while working outside in nature. He used it daily on his father’s farm. He shared the melodic sound of it with his older brother and twin sister. But it was especially reserved for those creatures he loved most dearly.
In his young adulthood, he was called away from the farm. He was drafted to be a language expert in the U.S. Army during World War I. He was to train new recruits to learn the language and care for those placed in their charge. He passed on his secret language and gestures.
Once home, he married and raised two daughters. Now, a second generation would learn the language. He could pass on his love. On the farm, he would speak his love language as he rode out to far pastures to check on cattle herds. He would entrust his beloved daughters to ride out each day and attend a one room schoolhouse.
It was my grandfather, Andrew Earl Storer, who spoke the language starting in boyhood. On an Osborne County, Kansas farm, his language of horses was a lifetime love. He was fluent in the language. He passed it on to my mother, Merna Mae Storer. So beautiful, so memorable, so heartwarming…my Gramps and horses.
