Under the Wire

You’ve heard it said of someone who is really good at their job, “They are a natural.” These lucky folks just seem to have been born with all the talent necessary to be successful in their chosen field. Even though they might work at what they do just as hard as others, for these “naturals” things just seem to come out better. Then there are the rest of us.

While some seem to be born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouth, talent-wise, there are those of us whose spoon was plastic. For us, … OK ... me, when they were passing out the extra servings of talent, I helped myself to a small portion, then laid down and took a nap.

I’m not complaining, though, because I doubt anyone got to choose what talents they were blessed with. In the early stages of their development, these richly rewarded ones had to be full of frustration. I wonder how many World Champion Rodeo cowboys at an early age aspired to be a ballerina? Imagine how frustrated they must have been every time they fell on their tutu trying to imitate Mikael Baristokov. Finally, one day they picked up a bareback rigging and discovered riding bucking horses was easier than that tutu thing.

I, on the other hand, found myself to be equally good at nearly everything. I never took the ballerina route and if I had, I’m not about to tell you about it. If I had, however, I would have been just as good at it as I would have been riding broncs. Not a pretty sight, to say the least. That plastic spoon would have been pushed in and broken off.

Not being good at something doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be successful at it, however. In fact, some became quite accomplished at a profession for that very reason, they don’t seem to know how to do it as others do. I have some friends like this. They just don’t seem to grasp the concept of what they’re doing and guess what? They are exceptionally successful at it.

These folks, who shall remain unnamed, knew I was looking for a certain type of horse. Since they are around a lot of horses I asked them to be on the lookout for this one.

Months later, they called me from a far away state where they had discovered just the critter I was looking for. After describing the perfect steed to me, I cowboyed up and asked the price. When they told me, I nearly went into shock! They knew how badly I wanted this horse and how much I had offered in the past for similar ones. Never-the-less, I was glad I was sitting down when they told me. The price was ... less than I ever dreamed. Hesitantly I asked them to repeat it and waited for the other shoe to fall. “What’s it going to cost to get him to me?” I asked. Here would come the catch,” I thought.

“Oh, nothing,” they replied. “We’ve got room in the trailer and are coming your way in a week or so anyway.”

Now, come on. Even the most entry level horse trader will recognize at least four missed opportunities for profit. This husband and wife team have to be the sorriest nag-jockies I’ve ever seen. Financially secure in their business, which by the way is related to horses, they obviously don’t know a thing about what they do for a living. Folks like that could give horse traders a bad name. Some people just seem unclear on the concept of what they do for a living. I guess we’re lucky, though. I don’t think I’d want to see my horse trading friend in a tutu!