Puddin’ Feet by Stephen Bly
Limpy Thomas was a friend of mine. I learned some old West wisdom from him.
He had a horse for every purpose. There was a horse for cutting and one for roping. Another for bull dogging and one for barrel racing. Then he had horses for trail riding or racing. One horse with a lot of chrome is just for parades.
But my favorite was the dun horse he called Puddin’. This 20-year-old gelding was Limpy’s elk meat hauling horse. Every fall, Puddin’ followed Limpy into the high country, up on the north fork, and hauled out four quarters of elk meat.
“The old boy only works a couple weeks a year. Now, that ain’t too bad, is it?” Limpy bragged.
A HORSE WITH PUDDIN’ FEET
He called the horse Puddin’ because it had puddin’ feet—that is, big and wide awkward feet. In a race, Puddin’ would be lucky to beat a porcupine. But he loved to climb rocks, shale, and steep inclines. Limpy hunted the north fork in late October for over twelve years with Puddin’.
No matter how bad the terrain, Puddin’ hauled for him.
Now, Puddin’ wasn’t beautiful. He was the circus clown of the equine world with over-sized shoes. But he was perfectly equipped for the job he had to do. Others might think him a comical sight, but that didn’t bother Puddin’ a bit. He didn’t seem at all concerned he wasn’t loaded into a trailer to ride eight hours to a parade or rodeo.
OLD WEST WISDOM LEARNED FROM A HORSE
He reminded me in some ways that each of us is a little strange looking. A tad awkward. At times, lacking in skills or beauty. But that doesn’t matter a twit to our Creator God. And that brings me to the Old West wisdom I learned.
God knit us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13).
Our abilities were distributed as God determined (1 Corinthians 12:11).
Which ones of his creations does he like best?
I believe there’s a special place in His heart for those busy doing the thing he uniquely created them to do.
That’s what I liked about old Puddin’.
Stephen Bly Copyright@1994
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Horses Through History by Miralee Ferrell:
https://www.hhhistory.com/2015/05/horses-through-history-and-give-away.html
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