If the original owner had asked the stallion Marshall Whiskers, better known as Red, what to do, Red could have told the roper his gelding wasn't a lost cause. But two veterinarians said the roping horse couldn't survive the wound inflicted by a steel rod that had ripped his hide and penetrated his chest. His owner took the horse to Jim Freeman at the Sulpher sale barn anticipating that the gelding's next destination would be the killer.

But Freeman, remembering Red and some other horses who benefited from Buddy Underwood's horse medicine, brought the injured horse to Underwood's home west of Wynnewood in mid-June. Three months later the question is not when the horse will die, but when he first can be ridden.

The gelding, name unknown, for now is sharing Underwood's barn with Red, the quarterhorse stallion that's lived there since his death sentence 10 years ago and who, instead of becoming a memory, has become the sire of over 200 colts.

Red arrived with his left hind foot dangling. The gelding was ripped under his left front shoulder and at the top of his leg. "The worse the horse is, the more I want to take it" said Underwood who, as a horse trader, isn't supposed to be sentimental about the animals. But he bought the stallion and would buy the gelding if Freeman and his father, Fred, hadn't decided to keep him. "I hate to see horses put away for no reason," said Underwood, with confidence in his medicine, but even he wasn't sure the gelding would make it because of the depth of the wound in his chest. Now there's not even a scar there and hide lacks only hair.

It took faithful application of the medicine several times a day, "But," says Underwood, "if you think enough of him (your horse) to keep him, what's 30 seconds?" And the horses don't mind. The medicine, which enables the hide to heal without proud flesh developing, doesn't hurt. Even animals that come in as broncs go home gentle after a few weeks. "They seem to know you're trying to help them," Underwood said.

The formula of the medicine is a secret passed down to Underwood by his father, Hollis, also a horse trader. It's never been actively merchandised, but word-of-mouth has led to requests for it from 13 states and a variety of owners-from those who ride only for pleasure to owners of expensively trained horses. The medicine doesn't even have a name. The formula now is being shared, piecemeal, with Underwood's son, Mitch. "He knows two or three ingredients and so do Patsy (Buddy's daughter), and Sue (his wife)," Underwood said.

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