Grandpa Hibbert

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but I adored my grandparents. We spent a lot of time with them when we were kids. We lived in Denver, CO and they lived In Raton, NM which for those of you that aren't familiar with the area are only about 3 1/2 hours apart. My parents made sure we had what we needed, but we didn't have a lot of extra to go on fancy vacations. So for vacation we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was great we loved it, we got to ride the horses and feed the baby calf's, chase the baby goats. They had a little spread right outside of town, Not super big but big enough to run wild. My grandpa was a kids best friend. He rarely got mad at us, and you could talk him into pretty much anything. A Slurpee, ice cream, $5 more of fireworks, 5 more minutes on the horses, pretty much what ever you wanted. I'm sure my mom was pulling her hair out with him, but we LOVED him.
So when mom and I were working on converting Grandma Annie's old house into Mom and dad's new house we found these pictures and this Newspaper Article. My grandpa was a cowboy and when I say cowboy I don't mean a guy who wears boots and a hat I mean he was a cowboy he worked all kinds of different cowboy jobs. He owned a boot shop, he shoed horses, he worked cattle and he worked at the Race track that use to be in Raton. My kids thought it was so super cool that my grandpa was a for really real cowboy. Those are Hailey's words.

I know you can't read this so here's what it says

THIS COWBOY HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE LA MESA'S OPENING
Delbert Hibbert beginning his 12th season as outrider
Raton Range Friday, April 26, 1985

When you see Delbert Hibbert heading out
onto the track, you know the beginning of the
race isn't to far off.
Hibbert, age 65, is returning for his 12th
season as "outrider" at La Mesa, but he's
been around the track in some capacity since
1946
"I've done everything on a race track that
you can do on a race track" said Hibbert,
who has a very distinguishable raspy but
knowledgeable voice.
As an outrider, his duties include leading
the horses from the paddock onto the track
for a race.
He also picks up loose horses and is the
general boss of the track during the week
between races.
"I take care of the boys (riders)", Hibbert
explained.
Since La Mesa Park opened in 1946, Hibbert
has run horses and has owned them, but
for the most part he has been a shoer.
"I got out of the owning race horses a long
time ago when I found out I couldn't make
no money," Hibbert said
With the apparent change of ownership, he
says the atmosphere is pretty much business
as usual behind the scenes at the track.
"I don't hear no griping and I don't see
anybody worried," he said
As far as retiring, well, that word doesn't
exist in his vocabulary.
"I'll hang around as long as the keep me.

I have very fond memories of going to the race track when I was a kid. My grandpa was an outrider, Which part of his job was he led the horse and riders out when the races started. We got to take turns and grandpa would take one of us in the truck with him early and we got to ride around the track with him until it was time to start. One time when it was my turn to go with him, when it was time for the races to start mom and grandma still weren't there and grandpa was going to give me to these people I didn't know. He knew them of course and knew I was safe but I didn't know them, so I cried and cried and I begged him to let me stay with him, but he had to go do his job so he couldn't let me stay but I was little and didn't understand so I was supper upset.

This was my horse "Old blue" I loved him dearly.


This is all of us with Grandpa. I'm the cute Blondie upfront then Sam, & Jim behind grandpa
I'm not sure what grandpa had said to me but I was very interested.



Grandma getting us so grandpa can go to work.