This little essay has nothing at all to do with farriery, it's the story about
how the Stovall kids came to acquire the dog that came to be known by friend
and foe alike as Luke the Rodeo Dog.  It took place at the Atoka, Oklahoma
rodeo, about 1972.

I was warming up my horses, when my kids came up the the arena fence and
Vic said, "Look what we found, daddy, can we keep him?"

She and Jim had the butt-ugliest, dumbest-looking old dog I had ever seen
trailing them up. He was backbone-poor, had a big head, a glass eye, one
broke holder and a shredded ear. Those were his good points. He looked
to be a pit, Catahoula, hound cross: squatty, short-haired, spotted,
long ears. I could smell him from my horse.

"Ask your momma," I said.

Before they asked their mom, they fed that mutt all the rodeo dogs they
could buy and conned the lady at the concession stand out of a few more.
They damn near foundered that skinny bastard on rodeo dogs. You couldn't
have driven him away from them kids with a stick.

When they asked Diane, she sniffed and said, "We'll see".

The kids took that as a definite maybe, so they patted the top of the
tailgate and he loaded right up. They were having a big time loving on
that stinking old bastard in the pickup bed.

Meanwhile, an acquaintance (whom my wife called a no-cowboying leech
when she was in a charitable mood) saw Diane in the stands and asked,
"Did Tom bring any Coors?"

Slim gritted her teeth and muttered, "It's over there in the truck in
that red Coleman where it always is."

The fellow walked over to the truck and made a move for the ice chest.
The kid's new dog nailed him before he touched it! A serious, catch-dog
bite, not no piddly yap-dog stuff. Then that skinny rascal braced up
and went to shaking his head; my buddy was hollering like a stuck hog
and the dog wasn't about to let go! Diane ran over to see what the hell
was going on and got there about the time the kids pulled him off.

Shortly thereafter, Vic came running over to the arena fence again, all
smiles.

I said, "What was all that hollerin' about baby"?

"Momma said we get to keep the dog!"