U-Dandy Resisted Restraint
by President Spencer W. Kimball
 

Recently I had great pleasure in training a well-bred colt. He had a good disposition, clean, well-rounded eye, was well pro-portioned, and all in all, a choice possession. Under the saddle he was as willing, responsive, and co-operative as a horse could be. He and my dog "Scotty" were real companions. I liked the way he would go up to something of which he was afraid. He had confidence that if he would do as I bade him he would not be injured. But "U-Dandy" resented restraint. He was ill-contented when tied and would nibble at the tie-rope until he was free. He would not run away, just wanted to be free. Thinking other horses felt the same, he would proceed to untie their ropes. He hated to be confined in the pasture, and if he could find a place in the fence where there was only smooth wire, he would paw the wire carefully with his feet until he could step over to freedom. More than once my neighbors were kind enough to put him back in the field. He learned even to push open the gate. Though his depredations were provoking and sometimes expensive, I admired his intelligence and ingenuity.
 

But his curiosity and desire to explore the neighborhood led him and me into trouble. Once on the highway he was hit by an automobile, resulting in a demolished machine, injury to the horse, and slight, though not serious, injury to the driver.  Recovering from that, and still impelled with a feeling of wanderlust he inspected the fence throughout the entire boundary.  He even found the gates wired. So, for awhile we thought we had "U-Dandy" secure in the pasture.
 

One day, however, somebody left the gate unwired. Detecting this, "U-Dandy" unlatched it, took "Nig," his companion, with him, and together they visited the neighbor's field. They went to an old house used for storage. "U-Dandy's" curiosity prompted him to push open the door. Just as he had surmised, there was a sack of grain. What a find! Yes, and what a tragedy! The grain was poison bait for rodents! In a few minutes "U-Dandy" and "Nig" were in spasmodic pain, and shortly both were dead.
 

How like "U-Dandy" are many of our youth! They are not bad; they do not even intend to do wrong, but they are impulsive, full of life, full of curiosity, and long to do something. They, too, are restive under restraint, but if they are kept busy, guided carefully and rightly, they prove to be responsive and capable; but if left to wander unguided, they all too frequently find themselves in the environment of temptation and too often are entangled in the snares of evil.
 

-Linda Ririe Gundry, Jay A. Parry, and Jack M. Lyon, editors, Best-Loved Christmas Stories of the LDS People, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2001] p. 429.