My 14-year-old granddaughter Megan loved horses. She’d been riding for four years, but when her mother told me they were getting her a bigger horse I worried. Horses are temperamental creatures. What if this new mount was hard to handle?
My daughter tried to reassure me when I stopped by one day.
“Mom, we’ve made a list of the qualities we want in a horse and the price we can pay,” she said. “Megan, her dad and I are praying over that list. God will hear us.”
That night I said my own prayer just in case. Lord, I need to be sure they find the right horse for Megan. So I’m asking for an unmistakable sign: a white spot in the shape of a heart. I figured that wouldn’t be too hard for God to handle. Lots of horses have white splotches.
A couple of days later my daughter and I were eating lunch at a fast-food place when wouldn’t you know—a man walked in wearing spurs. We decided to ask if he knew of anyone selling a horse in the area.
“As a matter of fact, I just came from a farm where a woman has a registered quarter horse for sale,” the man told us. “He’s brown with some white markings on his belly. Here, I’ll give you directions to the place.”
Howie, the horse, was everything we’d prayed for. He was bigger than the horse Megan had now, and he appeared to be calm and responsive. Plus the price was right. Better than right, in fact.
“Howie’s got a flaw for his breed,” the owner explained. “That’s why he’s so cheap.”
We checked out the horse from nose to tail. He seemed perfectly fine to me.
“What’s the flaw you mentioned?” I asked.
The owner pointed to a white splotch on the horse’s belly. I looked more closely and caught my breath. It was shaped like a perfect heart!
“Quarter horses only come in solid colors,” she said. “This one threw us all for a loop when we saw the white spot. That’s how he got his name.”
“Howie?” I asked.
The owner grinned. “It’s short for ‘Howie Get That?’”
How? I knew.
Written by Charlene Holeda, Ashland, Ohio
