There’s something special about a North Dakota summer especially if you’re young farm boys growing up in Wells County in the 1950’s and 60’s. Besides helping with the farm work there was also gopher hunting and horseback riding. So much to do, so little time!
There were actually four seasons within the summer season back then. First there was spring’s work season, then summer fallow season, then haying season, and then harvest season. Spring’s work lasted until the first part of June usually. Then summer fallow season began. As soon as a boy, (sometimes a girl) could drive a tractor, you would drive that tractor all day long going around the field with a 12 or 14 foot cultivator attached with the goal being of killing anything green in that field. Up and down, corner to corner, it was mind numbing, boring work.
Haying season started right after the 4th of July and continued to about mid August which is when harvest season started and that lasted until the end of September or so.
There were also all the other events of summer such as picnics, reunions and rodeo’s. But the event my brother Bradley and I waited for all year long was the Wells County Free Fair in Fessenden. The Fair was usually 4 days long.
County fairs were made for people to show off their green thumbs and animal expertise. 4-H kids brought their gardening, sewing, baking, and other projects to show and also their animals. My brother Duane and I showed our Guernsey calves that we bought from Herbert Ongstad. Blossom and Daisy were their names.
There were also the carnival rides, games of chance, “peep” shows, food booths, and lots of socializing. But the event Bradley and I had waited all year for was HORSE RACING!
Fessenden had the only Thoroughbred horse racing track in North Dakota and the person most responsible for it was a County Commissioner by the name of Ralph Hager, Sr. The race track was Ralph’s pride and joy and he made sure it was well run. Ralph had a business in downtown Harvey, I think he sold hearing aids. Bradley and I would go visit with him at his work sometimes when we were in town and we would talk horses with him. Ralph had lots of horse stories.
The Hager family raised horses, American Saddlebred I think, and they had a stud horse that sired a lot of Palomino’s. They had beautiful horses and would show them in fancy parade attire at horse shows and parades.
At the race track the person in charge of the race activity on the track would ride a horse and supervise all the races. He would help bring the race horses onto the track. He was called the “Pony Boy.” Ralph’s son, Ralph Hager, Jr. was the “Pony Boy” although Ralph Jr. was at least as old as my Dad. Not a boy!
Ralph Jr. rode a beautiful Palomino and one time I remember, a jockey fell off his horse and Ralph Jr. raced down the track on his Palomino and caught the loose race horse. Ralph Jr’s horse was faster than the actual racehorses!
Bradley and I dreamed of being the “Pony Boy” one day. The drawback though to this dream was we didn’t even have a saddle. Pretty hard to be a cowboy without a saddle!
When Ralph Jr retired as the “Pony Boy” he was replaced by his son and I believe his legal name was Ralph Hager III although people in North Dakota knew him as Rocky. Rocky Hager became famous state wide because of his success with NDSU football.
There were race horse owners throughout North Dakota. Some of the Wells County names I remember are Bittner, Kutz, Morlock, Erfle, Fehr, Schindler, Schatz, Roller, Reiswig, and Rhone. The Oschner brothers from Tuttle made the starting gate, Clarence ran the gate and Cliff raced the horses. There were many race horses from the Turtle Mountains, some of the family names I remember are Slater, Champagne, Gustafson, and Bryant.
I have a vivid picture in my memory of big Duke Bryant walking along side his horse and jockey on the way to the starting gates. The horse was prancing and dancing, full of energy but Duke held him firmly by the bridle so the horse stayed under control. Duke had a walk similar to John Wayne’s, maybe that’s why they called him Duke.
During race days there were 5-6 Thoroughbred races and 1 chariot race. The chariots used for the race were literally barrels cut in half length wise with an axel with 2 wheels under it and a pole for a team of horses to pull it. A driver of a chariot was definitely “living on the edge!”
Many years ago when I would visit with Francis OwlBoy of St. Michaels we would often reminisce about the Wells County Fair. Francis raced a chariot there and one time he got in a bad wreck with it during the race and he got pretty banged up. Back then there was no ambulance standing by so his friends loaded him into the back of a station wagon and took him home. He said after a few days rest he was recovered and ready to do it all over again. You had to be tough to be a chariot racer!
There was also a pony race for ponies 48 inches and under. Any kid in the county could bring their pony and race. Bradley rode in this race a few times on Ginger but the one thing about a kid and their pony is, the kid rapidly grows too big for the pony. A good pony throughout it’s lifetime will be handed down many times from kid to kid.
The race Bradley and I participated in was the county owned ½ mile. The horse had to be owned and ridden by someone from Wells County. The horse had to be over 48 inches tall but could be any breed. For several years there was a girl and horse from the southern part of the county who dominated this race. She was virtually unbeatable. However I do not recall her name.
We had a horse for this race and his name was Koko. He was about 54 inches tall, a bay with black mane and tail. His mother was a pony (Ginger) and his father was a Quarter Horse. Koko loved to run and race. Most of the time he was pretty laid back and quiet but he had a lot of energy. Bradley rode Koko all the time, they were a lot alike. Both skinny, wiry, and tough as nails.
When we took Koko to the fair, Bradley was the jockey and I was the manager. We used our 1949 Dodge pickup with 1 foot grain boards on the side to transport him. We backed the pickup into a ditch, opened the end gate and
Koko would jump in. No fancy trailer needed for us!
The first race of Koko’s career was very exciting. Horses entered the race track on the south side of it and would walk about ¼ of the distance of the track to the starting gate. Bradley was riding him and Koko walked very slow with his head down, very pokey looking. Myself and the owners of the other horses in the race were walking along side the horses and they were all laughing at the “skinny nag”. I was wishing I had some money so I could bet with them because I was sure the “skinny nag” would win.
When Koko got to the starting gate he went right in it although he had never been in one before. When the gates opened and the other horses shot out of it, Koko just stood there, unsure of what to do. When he finally did leave the gates the other horses were just entering the first turn but by the time they came around to the last turn, Koko had passed then and won the race by a wide margin. I heard one of the other owners say “the skinny nag won!” Koko rarely lost a race after that.
The next year we had an additional horse to race at the fair with Koko and his name was Rocky. He was actually Koko’s uncle and was given to us by our cousin Marilyn and Cliff Gedrose to train. Rocky was about 57 inches tall, dark bay, very nice to train and ride.
To get ready for the fair Bradley and I would ride Koko and Rocky everyday and there would be at least one race between us. Bradley always wanted to ride like a jockey so we were able to buy a saddle pad with a cinch and stirrups. One day Bradley raised the stirrups so he could ride like a jockey and we had a race across the field. When we reached the finish line, Bradley stood up like the jockeys do, Koko must have seen a shadow and he spooked, jumping sideways leaving Bradley standing in mid-air. Funniest thing I ever saw!
When we got to the fair with Koko and Rocky we needed to find a jockey for Rocky as I was too big to ride him. Wally Kutz had some horses there he was racing and his young son Dean was just sick to be a jockey but he was too young to ride Thoroughbreds. When Dean found out we were looking for someone to ride Rocky, he begged us to let him ride for us. We agreed but we didn’t have any money to pay him so we offered him 50% of the winnings. He agreed.
When we would race Koko and Rocky at home, Koko won most of the time but Rocky was always very close. At the first race at the fair both horses started fast and pulled ahead of all the other horses. When they came to the finish line Koko was just a nose ahead of Rocky but for some reason Koko faltered or stumbled a little and Rocky won by a nose! Very exciting race and the only time that Koko took 2nd.
Our young jockey Dean was very excited, he had just ridden and won his 1st race. Dean later went on to be a professional jockey, he rode at Winnipeg and lots of tracks down south. He became well known in the horse racing world. And Bradley and I gave him his first job! Dean also was the 1st person to exercise a horse at the Horse Park in West Fargo.
Bradley and I have had horses all our lives, in fact we still have a couple each. When Bradley’s kids were young, he got the bug to get a race horse again so he bought one from the Champagne’s west of Belcourt. The horses name was Askim and he was a very nice horse. Only drawback to him was he couldn’t run very fast. Not exactly a good trait to have for a race horse. Bradley took him to the fair anyway and even though he never won Bradley still enjoyed racing him.
One day before the races Askim was in his stall and there were lots of people standing around the horse barns visiting. A lady walked by the stall, she noticed Askim and said to Bradley, “what a nice horse, what’s his name?” Bradley responded “Askim”. The lady got a perplexed look on her face and said again “what’s his name?” Bradley responded again “Askim.” The woman got an exasperated look to her and said “horses can’t talk!” and walked away.
One of the persons standing around listening to this was Arlo Schmidt of Maddock, he was the race announcer. If you remember Arlo he was very good at finding the humor in things and telling a story. So at racetime when Askim came down the track in front of the announcer’s stand to enter the starting gate, Arlo told this story. It just so happened that the lady in the story was standing below the announcer’s stand. She became embarrassed, her face got all red and she looked like she wanted to crawl in a gopher hole.
One last fair story concerns my aunt Ethel. In the evening at the fair, adults would stand and sit around drinking “whatever” and socializing. Ethel was in a group of people visiting and she felt something warm on her leg. She looked down and there was a dog peeing on her! I don’t know who she was talking to at the time but it probably was some sort of politician because the saying about politicians goes “don’t be peeing on my leg and telling me it’s raining!”
And just a note, the Wells County Free Fair was named as such because there was free admission to it. We have many great memories of the Fair, it was such a big part of our growing up. It is good to see that it is still going and thriving only minus the Thoroughbred racing.
The source for this story is Bradley and my own memory. Pretty sure we got it right!
Thank you for letting me share my story with you.
