Back when I rode horses, I owned three different ones over the years, but I often rode a bunch of other horses to practice every day, and one of my favorites was a bay gelding named Lefty. He was a gentle, sweet Thoroughbred, and he was consistent and rather fun to ride; he was also a talented jumper with perfect form. So, you’d think that everyone would want to ride him. Not so. Why? Well…
You see, Lefty had one major flaw. Whether tracking to the right or the left in a ring, he only cantered on the left lead. Normally, when cantering, tracking to the right, a horse leads with the right front leg. But Lefty couldn’t. He never did and never would. Never. No one could ever get him to do it. In any direction, he always lead with the left leg (probably due to an old racetrack injury, because he was bought off of the track). Anyway, obviously that’s where his name came from. So, no one ever wanted to ride him, because at any horse show, this would be an automatic no-no. And there was no way Lefty would ever be in the ribbons.
But I loved him. I rode him all of the time, and I even took him to a show. Time after time, we’d have perfect rounds but of course, I never got any ribbons on him because of his left-sided issue. In a way, it was kind of fun, because I knew from the get-go that I’d never win anything, no matter how good our jumping course was and so, there was absolutely no pressure; it was pure fun…just Lefty and me.
I continued to ride and love the guy for a few years, off and on, whenever he needed some exercise. I always jumped at the chance. Well, I didn’t have to jump, because no one else wanted to ride him, ha.
Well, this afternoon, I was about to take a nap, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Lefty. Resting there on the couch, I grinned and pictured his handsome face. I even remembered the exact shape of his eyes. Maybe he had an imperfection, but he was very good looking, kind, gentle, sensitive, shy, extremely sweet, fun to ride, and as loving as they came.
Lefty was perfectly imperfect. Like me. Like you.
All of us are.
So love yourself. Love others. That’s why we’re here.
C.A. MacConnell
P.S. Happy New Year. Love to you.
