Black Beauty

I am 75 and live near Pinetops. At 4, I lived on a six-mule tobacco farm, which was a pretty good-sized farm. At Christmas, my father bought me a 6-month-old Shetland pony from Waters Oil Company in little Washington. They had about 25 ponies to pick from, and my mother wanted Old Bear. But my father picked Black Beauty, who was the most spirited in the bunch.

Black Beauty and I were buddies up until I went away to school as a teenager. One morning I was riding Black Beauty pretty fast, and we came over a hill where Black Beauty fell on a rock. I was knocked unconscious. I woke up with Black Beauty licking my face.

Don Nobles, Pinetops, Edgecombe-Martin County EMC