Starting TB's in a box stall

It was the norm that racehorses were started in a box stall in a barn. The theory being that in the seclusion of the stall, there were no outside distractions to spook the horse, they were less likely to buck with out having room to so and they certainly couldn’t run off and hurt themselves. So in the stall they were saddled, and the rider got on, and let them move about the stall at will and to get used to having someone on their back.

This one horse was pretty hot… but this black guy was very good at starting race horses. They got the horse saddled, and closed up the stall doors and left the black guy alone with the horse. Pretty quick there was this explosion of commotion and banging that came from the stall… it was like the Tasmanian Devil himself was in there tearing the barn down… the fellers on the outside looked at each other in disbelief fearful that the black guy was going to be dead when the dust finally settled. But on and on it went… the crashing and bangin and dust was oozing out the cracks in the wooden walls… finally after what seemed like an eternity they hollered to the black guy… “Are you alright”? and the black guy hollers back… yessah, I’ze ahlright…

They looked at each other in disbelief and as the clanging and crashing continued they mustered the nerve to crack the top half of the door and peek in… there was the black guy safely perched in the rafters, flogging the horse round and round… “yessah, I’ze ahlright”…