NAMPA -- A nationally-syndicated radio celebrity used to be a boy who wanted a horse.

Political pundit Michael Reagan visited Nampa's Ronald Reagan Elementary School Thursday, and he told stories about growing up with a father who would be president.

Michael said his favorite memory of his dad started with a golden palomino.

When Michael was still a boy, his father told him a man he knew had bought a horse as a Christmas gift for his son. But the horse wasn't ready for the boy, so the man had arranged for the Reagans to board and train it.

Ronald asked Michael to help him work with the animal. Michael said it didn't seem fair. He had begged for a horse for Christmas.

"I was really, really mad," Michael said, "but I did it."

He said they spent 45 minutes a day. Ronald used a long rein while the horse circled with Michael on its back. And Michael said he loved the palomino. He named it Rebel.

But the day came -- just before Christmas -- when the horse was ready, and Michael's dad told him the man would come for the horse that evening. He asked Michael to go make sure it was ready.

Michael said he cried "crocodile tears," but he did it. And when he got to the stable, he found Rebel with a red bow on his neck and a card:

"Merry Christmas Michael. Love, Dad."

Michael Reagan took questions from kids about his age and the flight to Idaho and the names of his brothers and sisters. He is 58, the flight was delayed because the plane's cargo door would not close, and he has three siblings.

And he talked about having a father who does not remember him any more because of Alzheimer's.

"Things happen to us," Reagan said, "and not everything that happens to us is good."

But he encouraged students to make the most of every situation.

"Holding grudges is going to hold you down," Reagan said. "Don't use excuses to fail. Look at the things that happen to you, and learn from them."

Students honor former

president Ronald Reagan

Students at Nampa's Ronald Reagan Elementary School presented Michael Reagan with a birthday card for his father Thursday. Former President Ronald Reagan turned 93 last week.

The students also presented a school T-shirt, a framed photo of the school and a U.S. flag they had autographed.

Michael Reagan told students the gifts would be added to a display honoring his father at the Young America's Foundation in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"I honor (these gifts) in the way you honor my father," Reagan said.

Find more at the Idaho Press-Tribune.