Tack Rooms, Gumption, and a Giveaway!

by

Petticoats and Pistols turned eighteen on 8/13/2025. Each of us said a few words about what we did when we turned eighteen. I decided it would be fun to elaborate.
As I said in our birthday post, when I turned eighteen, I didn’t throw a party or head off for some big adventure with friends. I didn’t even stick around for a traditional senior year. I graduated early and took a job working the backside of a racetrack.

Why? Because college wasn’t going to pay for itself. And because, deep down, I’ve always had a streak of independence (some might call it stubbornness, but let’s be generous).

My days started with feeding horses, then mucking out stalls. The trainer I was working for had about twenty to twenty-four horses as I recall, and two grooms, myself and another girl. From there, it was grooming and rubbing down the horses, and putting them on the hot walker for either exercise or to cool down after galloping. Seven. Days. A week. No breaks. No holidays. Just the kind of work that builds grit, muscle, and a real appreciation for a hot shower, if you were lucky enough to get one.

I slept on a cot in a 7-by-7 tack room, wedged between saddles, grain buckets, and the smell of horses so strong I probably carried it around in my pores. And honestly? I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Because at eighteen, I learned what it meant to earn something. Not just money, but pride. Not to mention confidence and discipline. I wasn’t reading about a heroine in a western book back then, not by a long shot. But I see her in that version of me now. The one who did hard things to make her dreams happen. The one who didn’t wait around for life to give her a story. Instead, she went out and wrote one.
From 1962 to 1983, Portland Meadows was owned by William “Bill” Wineberg. In the 1960s, Wineberg gave Rick Stroud—already a familiar face in the horse racing community—his first official job at the track. Stroud had grown up in the business; his father, Len Stroud, was a jockey credited with organizing both the Canadian and American Jockey Guilds.
On April 25, 1970, disaster struck when a fire destroyed the grandstand. Thankfully, no lives—human or equine—were lost, though the blaze ended the meet early. By 1971, the facilities had been rebuilt, and the reopening drew a record crowd of 12,635.
Portland Meadows made headlines again in 1981 when Gary Stevens began a two-season run as the track’s leading rider. In 1987, the Coors Portland Meadows Mile became Oregon’s first $100,000 stakes race, won by Present Value under Hall of Fame jockey William Shoemaker. Then, in 1994, a two-year-old named Jumron captured the attention of racing fans across the Pacific Northwest. He became the first horse to launch his career at Portland Meadows and go on to compete in the Kentucky Derby. My sister trained with Gary Stevens and the two are friends to this day.

I worked as a groom for three months and then—because life never stops turning the page—we packed up the racehorses and left Oregon for California. I started working the fair circuit, traveling from county fair to county fair where horse races were held right alongside Ferris wheels and fried food.

My “room” was still a tack room, only now it was on the backside of a racetrack nestled somewhere behind the Tilt-A-Whirl and the cotton candy booth. It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t easy. And it definitely wasn’t boring. At that particular race track, Portland Meadows, my dad was chief of security at the time for the racing commission, so no one dared mess with me or my sister, who was galloping horses at the time and starting her career as a jockey.

There were always interesting characters skulking around the fairgrounds, some more curious than others. I remember one racehorse trainer in particular who made it his mission to chase off any lurkers. He had the bark of a drill sergeant and the instincts of a sheepdog. His name was R.J. and he was great! While at Portland Meadows, this wasn’t as much of a problem as my dad was chief of security of the racing commission at the time, (he had to have something to do after he retired from being a homicide detective) and so no one really messed with my sister or me while there.

Working the fairs was dusty, noisy, chaotic, and full of personalities. But it was also a life lived full-on. I look back on that summer now and realize it shaped me far more than I knew at the time. I learned to work hard, stay sharp, trust my instincts, and keep going, even when the hours were long and the cot was lumpy.

What was one of your first jobs? Was it waitressing, berry picking, babysitting? And what did you do with the money you earned? I’m giving away one ebook of mine of choice to one lucky commenter.

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USA Today bestselling author Kit Morgan is the author of over 180 books of historical and contemporary western romance! Her stories are fun, sweet stories full of love, laughter, and just a little bit of mayhem! Kit creates her stories in her little log cabin in the woods in the Pacific Northwest. An avid reader and knitter, when not writing, she can be found with either a book or a pair of knitting needles in her hands! Oh, and the occasional smidge of chocolate!

50 thoughts on “Tack Rooms, Gumption, and a Giveaway!”

  1. Sounds like a very hectic summer. My first job – picking cherries and babysitting! Not real exciting – unless you were up on the top of a 12′ ladder and the wind started blowing!

  2. My first jobs were babysitting and berry picking. I with the money I earned I helped pay my tuition for my Catholic school. I am the oldest of 5 kids and we all helped pay our tuition. It helped us to grow up and be responsible. I am very thankful fir all that my parents taught us about life.

  3. My first job was as a camp counselor. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun. I bought me a car that was a piece of junk but it was mine.

  4. What an interesting time that must have been for you. Thanks for sharing.
    I started babysitting at 12 for a family that had 5 kids. I so enjoyed my time with them, and having my own pocket change was fun. My first full time job was a waitress. I thought at the time I was saving for college. God had other plans and I am thankful for the life I have been blessed with.

  5. My brother and I started our first jobs together when I was six and he was seven. During the winter, we worked at a cattle farm mixing powdered milk in a bucket with a nipple to feed the baby calves. During the summer, we picked peaches because we could climb the upper branches without breaking them. We were picked up in the morning by the orchard owner at 7 in the morning and returned home at 5 pm.

  6. My first job was working in a beauty shop washing the customer’s hair and sweeping the floor. It was so long ago (I think I was a freshman in school) I don’t remember how much I was paid or what I spent the money on.

  8. Wow! I can’t top that Kit! I lived on a farm. There was always something to do. We grew corn, soy beans and watermelons. But, we had neighbors who grew tobacco. Cropping and working in tobacco wasn’t for sissies. I do know this! Hot, days were long, and the tobacco was sticky and stained your hands. We would pick overripe tomatoes, squeeze and break them and rub on our hands and arms to get the tobacco juice off. This was in the ‘70’s and I saved my money for clothes to wear to college. I worked in tobacco each summer from age 14 to 17. But, before all that, there was always a job to do on the farm. I just didn’t get paid for it! I heard about some kids getting allowances, but we weren’t one of them! LOL

    Many blessings Kit! I enjoyed your working adventures!

  9. I started working at my cousin’s ice cream shop at 15 – my 16 year old sister dropped me off and picked me up after closing – this was in 1976! I didn’t even make minimum wage but saved it to purchase my own car later on – while there a very cute boy kept stopping by near closing and offered to take me home (this was way before cell phones) after getting Mom’s permission – we started dating and got married!

  10. I grew up in Iowa on a farm. There were six of us kids, so us, working when possible, came in handy for new school clothes., So, I went out to detassel for the summer. It was a hot and grewsome job as you sweated a lot, the tassels dropped off pollen, and the corn leaves were sharp and often left you with little cuts which burned. We went out on teams for a while, then my older sister and I contracted a field by ourselves, and we worked from dark to dusk. Well, we got through with the hard work and had some nice clothes to wear to school. It was hard but it was a great lesson in stamina and worth.

  11. wow, thanks for sharing this post with us. before I was old enough to work, I did a lot of babysitting. my mom had a lot of friends with younger children. one was a lady with a three year old. man oh man this kid was the most obnoxious kid I had ever seen or heard. his mom was a sweetheart, his dad was the same as the three year old. his dad also had one of those cars where the doors opened up like bat wings. but a lot of other sweet and funny kids also. when I turned 16, I started working for my dad as a secretary/all around girl friday. after school I would walk to his office and get started on the days work. I really enjoyed this. and dad and I would always go home together. what did I do with my money? I put it in the bank and saved it. I didnt want for anything and wanted to save for something that I really wanted. After I got married, my new husband and I splurged on a trip to Hawaii for two weeks. all that saving really did come in handy. now 42 years later I will be using the rest of that particular saving for a few vacations out to california to see our daughter and our only/new grand daughter. yup money well saved and spent.

  14. Babysitting for 45 minutes a day on school days (the mom worked second shift and the dad worked first shift, I was the in-between). For 1 year in high school I was also a waitress on the weekends at a restaurant that was just off the turnpike.

  15. Good morning, Wow, I love your real story!! God Bless you my sweet friend. My first job I had I was a file clerk in a Pant Factory, so I worked in an office. They moved me around and took orders for pants from all over the states, it was alot of fun. I was still at home so I would order jeans, and pants for my siblings. I also purchased a recliner for my dad, I also got me a 1968 ford mustang. (not entering this ebook giveaway as I am not tech savvy, but Thank you)

  16. My first job was babysitting. I was always the first one called when a baby sitter was needed in our community. I loved it.

  17. I babysat, but my first real job was working in a dime store (Do those even exist anymore?). I got paid in cash and earned $1.10/hour. I used the money for college expenses–my scholarship didn’t cover everything. When I got to school, I worked in the language lab, tutoring French. It was fun!

  18. My first job, at 16, was a lifeguard in our town pool. I did it for 2 use and used the money for school clothes, and then things for college.

  19. Gowing up in a small town in the 60s, I had an afternoon paper route . When I was old enough for a work permit, it was retail sales in a local bakery, life guard (pre sun screen to my dematogogist’s horror), retail photography studio, college lab instructor…then the real world jobs…

  21. I started babysitting outside the home when I was 12 for a nurse from my doctor’s office. I did this until I was around 19. I was even a live-in nanny at one point. I had several regulars.
    I also worked at McDonald’s around the time I was 19-20.
    I usually spent my money on books and saved it. Imagine that… books! lol

  22. One of my very first job was chopping out tobacco for a farmer. This was when I was in high school and when I got out of high school I stared to work in a sewing factory making blue jeans.

  24. Babysitting paid for my first car. Working at a grocery store in high school and college allowed me to graduate debt-free.

  25. One of my first jobs was working at a Personal Care Unit Non Nursing level doing shift work and I did a little bit of everything including passing out medications and narcotics even though I wasn’t certified. I put my money in the bank and saved it for whenever I really needed it.

  26. Babysitting was my first job and I continued it through college. A job I had one summer in college was waiting tables at a resort in Lake Placid, N. Y. My first time not living at home and a work situation that would be illegal today and likely was back then. People were there for the week and served 3 meals a day. We were assigned tables and had the same people for the week. We slept at the resort and ate in the kitchen. We had to be down for breakfast at 6 am, set up, and serve breakfast starting at 8 or so. It was 1965, so exact times are a bit fuzzy. We then cleaned up, set up for lunch, served lunch, cleaned up, set up for supper, served supper, and cleaned up. during peak season, there was no time off in this schedule. In addition, the owner decided he wanted entertainment, so several of us formed a fold group and sang Saturday nights after cleaning up, starting at 9. The first week, my feet were bleeding from popped blisters. They finally calloused over. It was crazy. Including tips ($10 for 3 meals a day for 7 days for a party of 8), with $25 taken out for room and board, I was lucky to make $25 a week. I had no choice but to stay. One of the girls quit after a few weeks and got a job waiting tables at a restaurant in town. She was making about as much in a day as we were making in a week. It was a learning experience.
    A learning experience in many ways. There were several clients over the summer that were WWII concentration camp survivors. I had three in one party with the tattoos on their arms. That summer the movie THE PAWNBROKER starring Rod Steiger (1964) was shown in town. Many of the staff went with the clients to see it. If you get a chance to see it, please do. It is stark and heartbreaking, showing just what happened from the ghettos to the camps. I believe it should be shown in every high school history class when studying WWII. When we got back that night, “my ladies” were so very upset, saying “Why would anyone bring that all back up?” That night, one of the other camp survivors died of a heart attack. The owners woke me up to go up and wake up one of my parties to help them because he was a rabbi.

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