Why Dolly Parton ‘Religiously’ Planted ‘Horse Turds’ as a Child

Dolly Parton received as much as some wild issues as a little lady rising up within the mountains of East Tennessee. Burying horse poop within the floor and diligently watering it in hopes that a pony would develop, for instance. Right here’s the story of how Parton and her siblings believed they may develop ponies. 

Dolly Parton | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photos

Dolly Parton’s uncle advised her she might ‘grow a pony’

Parton’s uncle Dot Watson (married to the singer’s mom’s sister Estelle) was a playful man. Sooner or later, he advised the “Coat of Many Colors” singer and her siblings that they may “grow a pony.” As far fetched as it sounds, the Parton youngsters desperately needed a pony and have been excited to imagine there was a method to get one. 

“We had all kinds of animals on the farm, but we never had a pony,” Parton wrote in her first memoir, Dolly: My Life and Different Unfinished Enterprise. “A pony, after all, would eat feed and have to be taken care of and not really contribute anything to the survivability of the family, except for providing the kids with a little fun. We used to dream about having a pony and how wonderful he would be and the freedom he would give us to hop on his back any time we felt like it and traipse across the hills.”

The Parton youngsters took diligent care planting their ‘pony seeds’ 

When Parton requested her uncle how precisely she and her siblings might develop the animal they needed most, he advised them: by planting pony seeds. 

“A pony seed to anybody else would have been a horse turd, but to a kid who’s ready to believe anything with such great promise, it sounds like a simple and workable concept,” wrote Parton. 

So the Parton youngsters got down to discover the most effective pony seeds they may discover. 

“We studied turds for hours, talking about how well shaped that one was or what a good, strong pony this one would make because it had a lot of hay fibers in it,” she wrote. “We planted our horse turds and weeded them and watered them religiously.” 

The “Don’t Make Me Have to Come Down There” singer mentioned she and her siblings actually believed they’d stroll outdoors in the future to seek out “a row of fine, healthy ponies.” After they didn’t, they thought they should have overwatered the seeds or planted them too near a tree. 

“And all the while Uncle Dot would listen to our questions and give us advice,” wrote Parton. “He always said we should be ready with a rope because the ponies came up really fast once they got started.”

What the expertise taught the nation singer

Trying again, Parton mentioned the expertise didn’t damage anybody. In reality, she and the remainder of the youngsters had nearly as a lot enjoyable planting the horse seeds as the adults had at their expense. 

The expertise reminded Parton of a story she was advised as a little lady:

“[There was a] little boy who was such an optimist that it got on his brother’s nerves. The brother decided to break him of it, so one Christmas he hid the little boy’s real present and put a sack of horse manure under the tree instead. On Christmas morning, the brother was surprised to find the little optimist digging excitedly through the sack saying gleefully, ‘With all this horse s***, there’s got to be a pony here somewhere!’”

Parton and her siblings have been nothing if not younger optimists. 

“In those hills there are worse things to be,” she wrote.



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