Rural Heritage June/July 2025

A Dozen Lessons

Learned From an Old Timer

Sunday school or Scouts. This compilation is a tribute to Dad and to the generations of horsepeople and rural folks who have embodied these words in their lives and actions. One. Get back in the saddle. If you fall, pick yourself up and get back on that horse. Don’t dwell on the setback. Get past disappointment, discouragement and fear. Try again. Don’t stop at failure.

by Jacqueline Courteau. Illustrations by Maeve Courteau. R ural residents have long passed along hard-learned lessons from one generation to the next, offering verbal instructions and leading by example. Words can be helpful, but demonstrating behavior can be even more powerful. Last fall, I sat down to write a 91st birthday card for my dad, Rural Heritage contributor Dick Courteau (author of the “Old Timers Tips Just Passed Along” column). I reflected on lessons I learned from him— by words and deeds. Dad was small but powerful, steely tough in mind and body. He was raised by a foster family on a Minnesota farm, migrating to Montana at 15, traveling throughout the West to become a cowboy, rodeo rider and horse-trainer. He performed many jobs but stayed in rural areas. He always worked with horses no matter what else, from operating a horseback riding school to raising commercial crops and horse logging to moving his family from Arkansas to Nebraska with a team and covered wagon. He characterizes himself as “profoundly country.” His connection with animals, especially equines, is equally profound. Many of Dad’s lessons emerged from working with horses. I remember sitting in the dusty corral, where I had bounced off a gentle pony when she broke into a trot. Dad checked that I was okay, helped me to my feet and lifted me back into the saddle to keep riding. More lessons emerged through long hours of working with animals, training and shoeing horses, tending crops and gardens, provisioning the woodpile, and generally living the rural life—working side-by-side, talking or not, conversing at mealtimes or coffee breaks. Although lessons started with horses, they are useful for life in general. These lessons are likely familiar from our shared rural heritage. Some we learned in kindergarten or

Two. Learning to tie a few knots can take you far in life. Horse people and sailors need knots, and you don’t have to be an expert. Practice basic knots (square knot, bowline, quick-release knots) and hitches (half-hitch, clove hitch, timber hitch) and you’ll be prepared for many situations, from bundling up a bedroll to tying a pack onto a saddle (or a car roof) to crafts. I picked up macramé from knots learned around horses—and later used macramé to make a bridle when needed.

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