IT WAS ALL A MATTER OF HEART

He had good breeding, but he was small and awkward and had a terrible disposition. No one could do a thing with him--mean you might say. But after the rest had given up on him, he met a man named Smith who understood him and looked beyond the surface to see greatness. He had heart.

It was a time of hardship, poverty and despair. A time of soup lines, tent cities. and Okies-- The 1930's in America. A man called "Red" knew these hard times, he drifted from here to there, working where ever and when ever he could as a prize fighter and horse rider. Red had a gift, and he was a fighter, he had heart.

There was another man, Mr. Howard, who had vision and saw the potential of the automobile. He became wealthy with automobile dealerships all over America's West. He knew tragedy and loneliness too, for he had lost his son in an accident and then his wife in divorce. He later met and married a woman who saw something special in him. He had heart.

The three came together in a time when Americans needed something beyond their own misery to believe in. Their magic was a race horse named Seabiscuit. The unlikely small awkward and mean animal whose greatness was there to be gentled, discovered and developed by Mr. Smith his trainer, Red, his jockey and Mr. Howard his owner.

It was not easy or automatic. The horse lost in early outings, but the trio did not give up and with patience, persistence and desire a star was born. This little horse began winning races and became the hero of a downtrodden generation. He was cheered all across America by the little people who had become impoverished and desperate for relief. He gave them heart.

He was not a triple crown winner like the aristocrat War Admiral, who he later defeated in a match race, but he was the common man's horse who had desire and heart.

America survived the hardships of the 1930's economic depression and went on to be the world's super nation. The world knows Americans as brash impetuous entrepreneurs, but a closer look reveals their specialness--it is a matter of heart.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN