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RP: So you had a, a love affair with horses starting at a pretty young age. Tell us about that.

PF: Yes, I, my friend Irene and I used to go across the street to Butler's Field and get a horse. They had all kinds of pack animals and nice gentle horses and we'd go put a rope around the neck and then snub it around its nose and we'd go hop on. And that's when I got my foot stepped on that time. We'd hop on and we'd go cantering off in the field and this one time the horse just stopped. [Laughs] And all over the head we went. But oh my goodness, my friend and I loved to go over there. Even if it was just to pet them. That, oh, I loved horses from the time I was a little tiny thing. My mother made me some jodhpurs out of my dad's, or grandpa's suit, and we went back east to visit my grandparents. And I wanted to ride the horses. "Oh, you can't ride the horses." And I said, "Well why not? I've got jodhpurs." [Laughs] I was about five I guess, or six.

RP: Do you remember the first time you rode a horse?

PF: Oh, yes. Yeah, we were at my dad's uncle's in Oregon, on his big wheat ranch. And he had a horse named Pal that was a pinto, a paint. And, brown and white, and they saddled that horse up and my brother and I got to ride. I got to ride in the saddle first and my brother behind. And then somewhere along the ride I decided, well, I'll let my brother have his turn in the saddle. I got off and he got in the saddle and took off. [Laughs] And left me standing there and I was... oh, there were snakes and things all over in that field. I don't remember if he came back. I just remember standing there and him riding off. Dirty trick.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.