By Doyle Davidson
On a cold winter day playing on a gravel pile this 5 year old country boy met Jesus. He remained with me and led me, the wisdom of God in me, until like the Apostle Paul I met him in the road and laid my life down. I marvel how God led me in my profession; meeting and working with people of influence and giving me the wisdom of God in difficult circumstances.
On a cold winter day playing on a gravel pile this 5 year old country boy met Jesus. He remained with me and led me, the wisdom of God in me, until like the Apostle Paul I met him in the road and laid my life down. I marvel how God led me in my profession; meeting and working with people of influence and giving me the wisdom of God in difficult circumstances.
Working in Tennessee
I graduated from the University of Missouri’s School of
Veterinarian Medicine in May of 1962. But while in my fourth year of vet school
I met Sam and Donald Pascal. They were well known horse trainers. At that time
they were training a Tennessee Walker named Beloved Belinda and they were
training the horse for a friend of mine in Sarcoxie. Dr. Ebert, the Director of Clinics for the
University of Missouri and a member of the American Equine Practitioners
Association, had recommended me to them saying “this guy has the most potential
of anyone that will graduate from the college.”
With that recommendation they wanted to talk to me and invited me to
come visit them in Tennessee during Christmas of my last year in school. They offered me to become their veterinarian.
I passed the Tennessee State Board in June and moved to Tennessee. I became the
veterinarian for the well-known Tennessee Walkers Ebony’s Masterpiece, Setting
Sun, and many others. But Patti, my wife, began having some serious respiratory
problems so I remained there until the National Celebration, (Tennessee Walker
Championship around Labor Day) when Ebony’s Masterpiece won the world
championship, then the next day Patti, Kathy and I left for Missouri to stay
until I was able to take the Texas board and then move to Texas. While I was in
Missouri I worked for Dr. Nelson White of Sarcoxie.
Meeting Carl Miles
I was at the Flying W
Appaloosa horse sale in Sarcoxie, Missouri when I met and talked to Carl Miles.
Carl Miles owned three ranches in Texas; Celina, Abilene, and Stephenville and
a famous Appaloosa stallion, Joker B. Joker B was in several movies and sired
more winning colts than any other appaloosa stallion[i].
Cee Bar Ranch, the operation in Celina, had 300 brood mares and 6 stallions.
Because of my recommendation from the University of Missouri and others, Carl
offered me the position of being the veterinarian for his ranches in Texas and
for Joker B. We had an agreement I would become his vet once I passed the Texas
Board. God had provided a position for me that would have been coveted by even
seasoned veterinarians and I was just out of school.
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| JOKER B |
With my association with
Carl Miles, Joker B, and Cee Bar Ranch many doors to other equine farms and
ranches were opened to me throughout the United States. God was in my life and did all this for
me. Cee Bar Ranch in Celina was sold and became the Dorfman Quarterhorse Ranch, an operation where John Carter
was the ranch manager and trainer. John became a friend of mine and a
client.
My Friend Jim Bray
Soon after I opened my
practice in Texas I met Jim Bray, owner of Wildwood Farms in Celina and became
his veterinarian. Jim and I became very
close friends. He and I along with our wives had dinner frequently together in
Dallas. Jim was associated with EK
Gaylord Sr. as well as Jr. His office
was on North Central Expressway in the building that housed Channel 11
television. We owned several horses together.
Years later when I sold my practice Jim and I remained good friends; he
was a man of integrity, honest with me. He attended my home bible studies. We
talked about the Lord frequently in the latter years and he had great respect
for what I was doing in the ministry. I recall the last time I
visited with Jim in his office. He had
been hospitalized and was frail, weak. The conversation between the two of us
was meaningful to me. Jim went to heaven
not too long after that and I am convinced he is with the Lord.
The ‘Lame’ Lame Horse
By 1965 my reputation was
becoming known in the horse circles. I received a phone call from a stable in
Dallas explaining that they had a horse that was lame. I always do a good
history of whatever I was looking at and after some questions they remarked
they noticed the lameness when they rode him. The owners of the stable had a
riding ring so I asked them to saddle him up and put the normal tack on that
they ride him with. This horse had been examined and x-rayed on his front legs
but they could not find one thing wrong with him. I said mount up and go out
into the ring and show your horse for me.
This happened to be a three-gaited American Saddlebred. I asked them to
walk the horse. I couldn’t see any abnormalities in his movement. I then called for them to trot the horse. As
soon as they started him trotting he began limping in his front leg. They trotted him half way around the ring.
The horse was wearing a full bridle; that is a snaffle and a curved bit. I
asked for them to drop the reins on that curved bit and trot him. He trotted off with no lameness. I then said, “Pull up the curb.” He started
limping. I said, “Drop the curb”, the lameness disappeared. I remarked, “There
is nothing wrong with your horse, he just doesn’t like the bit.” Some mouths
dropped. My reputation and my practice expanded significantly with that event
and they became my clients.
Two College Boys
I had a registered Angus
ranch that I worked with in this area. The ranch owners had hired a man with a
master’s degree and another with a bachelor’s degree to run their ranch. These men called me at one point and conveyed
that their cows were aborting not long after conception. I went to the ranch and did some short
examinations. God was with me. I then asked when they had fertilized their
pasture last. They answered they had fertilized about four or five days
prior. I asked what kind of fertilizer
had they put down and did they have any pasture they had not fertilized? They responded
with what they had used and that no, they had fertilized them all. College boys
don’t always know what they are doing, but God does. I turned around and pointed to a large cloud
leading in the west, leading a front moving toward us. I said to them, “You see those clouds? You
two better pray that it rains.” They must have because it rained 2 to 4 inches
that night. The abortions stopped within a couple of days. Not everybody that
graduates from college with a degree or with two degrees or three degrees know
what they are doing; but God knows all things.
That was just the wisdom of God.
Those two college boys were somewhat converted that day.
121 Veterinary Hospital
By this time my horse
practice was rapidly expanding. I was considering purchasing a tract of land on
Highway 380 to build my veterinary hospital, but while in my car parked on the
land my belly went into turmoil. It was like a churn stirring in my spirit with
these words, “No you won’t buy this land. You are not to build your hospital
here.” Great fear came with those words. My decision was made on the spot and
in August of 1967 I relocated to a temporary office on a three acre plot of
land I had purchased two or three years before and there built a new state of
the art veterinary hospital. It was located on Highway 121 just west of US 75,
a prime location. It was the first veterinary hospital built by Dave Bloxom’s
company, Fabcrete. The facility included a large animal surgery room equipped
with a modern large animal surgery table.
It also housed a recovery stall and three other stalls were built just a
few feet from the surgery room. The
table was on wheels so we could wheel the horse from the surgery room to the
recovery room.
With the new facility and
its location my practice and reputation grew rapidly. During these years I had
the privilege of being the attending veterinarian for some very expensive
horses; some worth six figures and more. In May of 1968 another practitioner
became a partner with me. I was experiencing much financial success. By 1969 I owned a 50 acre farm in Texas and a
143 acre farm in Sarcoxie located on Center Creek. I also owned five American Saddlebred brood
mares and a small herd of cattle. Yet with all of this success I knew in my
spirit I was going to have to sell out and preach the gospel.
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| BLACK ANGUS |
Early 1969 I had a man call me from New Castle,
Oklahoma. He had worked on a Black Angus
ranch in Texas and knew of some things that I could do as a veterinarian. One of them was a simple little piece of
surgery that I learned from someone else, and I was discussing this with him
along with a major problem with their herd. They were registered Black Angus
and they were experiencing a prolapsed uterus at about the last 10 or 12 days
of gestation. The cattle would abort the fetus and the uterus would prolapse at
the same time. As I discussed it with
them I started asking questions about their feeding program. They told me they were giving so many pounds
of alfalfa hay the first trimester, increasing it to so many pounds a day the
second trimester, and increasing it again the third trimester. God has been
with me all my life and it occurred to me as I was talking to the gentleman on
the phone they had an irritant probably causing the abortion and prolapse. I know God was the one that was giving me
that wisdom. I told him they needed to reduce their amount of alfalfa hay the
last trimester, I also told them that it could be cantharides beetles in their
feed but they didn’t want to hear me.
They wanted me to come up and do some surgery that they believed would
stop the prolaspe and the abortion. I
told them that wouldn’t work. A few days
later the manager of the ranch called me. He had a master’s degree from the
University of Kentucky and worked for a very powerful man. Those kind of people
can be demanding. I told him I did not
have the time to come up there to New Castle. He replied, “Do you know who this
man is?” I replied frankly, “No, and I don’t care.” We talked a few more minutes and I then said,
“OK, I will be up there a certain day at 7:00 AM and have the coffee hot!” I
knew what they were trying to do to me.
When I arrived they said we have here two cows, we want to see you do
the surgery. I said, “No, not until I
have my coffee”. I didn’t even drink
coffee most mornings but I wanted in that man’s office. As we went in they gave me a cup of coffee
and with the cup of coffee in my hand I said, “Now give me your feeding records
I want to look at them.” Back in those
days I didn’t trust God like I do today.
I was pretty sure I knew why those cows were aborting and
prolapsing. The wisdom of God is never
wrong. After I studied their feeding
records for about an hour I stated, “Let's go to the hay barn.” The man replied, “No, I want you to do the
surgeries.” I responded, “Not until we go to the hay barn.” We went to the barn and I pointed to a bale
and asked them to open that bale of hay.
They did. There was nothing there. I said, “Open the second one.” They
did. Nothing there. I had them open a third one. They did and there were dozens
of cantharides beetles between two flakes of hay. I said “There is your problem”. They were not convinced. I had them open another bale, and then
another. The Lord was with me for on the
next bale there was a large number of cantharides beetles. By now they began to look at this
veterinarian from McKinney 121 Veterinary Hospital and wonder. I said “Do you
want to open another one?” Sure enough they did. I am not sure how many they
opened that didn’t have any beetles but then they opened one full of
beetles. They were not looking for the
beetles but I was. I was convinced. I
then remarked, “Now let’s go do the two surgeries”. I did my surgeries, drove
home and never heard from them again. God was with me then as he is today.
The Arena
Along with my hospital,
practice and my other investments I also owned what came to be 33 percent of a
small corporation in Howe, Texas. I entered in as a silent investor and hoped
to keep it that way, however circumstances dictated that I become the president.
I saw later that was God’s plan for my life.
The corporation owned 12 acres of land with a large indoor arena. The arena was 150 feet by 360 feet and had
seating for 3,500. It was used for horse shows, rodeos, concerts, wrestling
matches etc. One of the concerts was for an upcoming singer by the name of
Willie Nelson. The wrestling matches
featured wrestlers like Fritz Von Erich and Johnny Valentine.
Fritz Van Eric became a
friend of mine. In June 1969 he and I
had some personal conversations about our lives. We trusted each other. At one point there was
a business venture he and I were discussing. He remarked to me, “If the deal is
with just you and I, I will go in with you 50/50 but if it includes the others
it will be 51/49”.
The Feedlot
While working at my hospital
in 1968 two men walked in looking for me.
I introduced myself. One of the men was Bobbie Cavnar. He was president of Meat Producers Inc., a
subsidiary of DH Byrd Enterprises. They had a feedlot in Melissa, Texas, with
12,000 head of cattle and they wanted me to be their veterinarian. I explained to them I had no experience as a
feedlot veterinarian, I was primarily an equine practitioner. They remarked
they knew a very close friend of mine, M. Allen Anderson, who ranched Santa Gertrudis
cattle in Frisco, Texas. They assured me
that Allen had convinced them of my honesty and my willingness to admit if I
didn’t know what the problem was with an animal sickness, but that I would make
every effort to find out. That was my
reputation. After considerable
discussion over two or three visits with me I agreed to be a consultant by the
hour and oversee their veterinary needs.
Boy was I dumb. Frankly what I did every Friday afternoon was to meet
with the feedlot manager, he would get in my car and we would drive up and down
all of the alleys where the cattle were feeding. Being a horseman and a
cattleman all my life, I enjoyed watching the bovine eat. I rarely got out of my car. Bobbie was very
particular and aggressive as the president of Meat Producers Inc. and this was
one modern, well planned operation. The entire vaccination program was handled
by employees of the feedlot under Bob Cavnar’s supervision, with consulting
from me. I was a very busy man but it was enjoyable on Friday afternoons to
ride in the car and discuss the feedlot with the manager. After about three months the day came where I
was confronted with actions of the cattle that I was unfamiliar with. Each
cattle pen held 125 cattle. You could
get over into the pen with them, clap your hands and some of them would fall
over with convulsions. It was happening in several pens as I walked through. I
was certainly not prepared medically to deal with these problems. I used all of my knowledge attempting to
determine what was wrong with these cattle.
Cavnar was leading in this
situation. He contacted a feedlot expert in California and wanted me to talk to
him. I spoke to him by phone while he
was waiting for a plane in the Phoenix Airport. After describing to him the
situation the doctor said, “Try this.” I answered him, “I did.” He replied,
“Try this.” I answered again, “I did.” He responded, “Try this.” “I did.” After
a while of this he retorted, “I have got to catch a plane, glad this is your
problem.”
Cavnar then arranged a
conference call with Quaker Oats because I thought their food might be too hot
(had too much protein). They were feeding them Milo and cooking it because it
would release more protein quicker along with the digestible nutrients. I
thought it was food intoxication, but Quaker Oats did not have any answers.
Then Bobbie had a
pharmaceutical house of Iowa get involved.
They sent a field man down, he happened to be a hotshot veterinarian. He
took Patti and me to dinner in Dallas and asked me if I would like a drink. I
said yes, so he began pushing them on me thinking I would be weakened with
alcohol and then agree with him. That he could not do. I proposed a situation
to him. We had barrels located on the north and south of the feedlot where they
threw the vaccine bottles and then burned them in those same barrels. I projected, “Do you think it is possible the
vaccine bottles are being cooked like an incubator and the viruses are being
released into the smoke?” He said it
couldn’t be the vaccines. He gave up.
The next day or two he went back to Iowa.
With everything Cavnar tried
he fell on his sword. Here we were,
Cavnar had exhausted all his ideas and here is a veterinarian that doesn’t know
anything about a feedlot. So then Bobbie started talking to me. “Do you know
anyone at the universities?” I believed I knew everything Missouri knew, so I
started out speaking with professors at Texas A & M, then Oklahoma State,
Auburn University, Kansas State, Colorado State, Iowa State, and the University
of Minnesota with no answers. I even called a pathologist I had at the
University of Missouri who used to upbraid me every chance he got while I was
in school. I was an irritant to him. When I was in his classes I always wanted
to know the reason he believed what he was proposing. During one of those
classes I asked him a question and his responded, “Oh you’re the one that
always wants to know why!” While we were discussing the feedlot he would
suggest an action and I would respond, “I’ve already done that doctor.” He
suggested another action and I responded with the same, “I’ve already done
that.” This went on for several rounds until he finally blurted out, “You are
too far from me, I can’t help you.” (I wasn’t surprised). I called Iowa State
and got a hold of a professor of bacteriology.
When he found out I was mostly an equine practitioner he almost spit up
the bits. He said “You are the bravest young man I have ever talked to.” We
discussed a whole lot about bacteriology and he found he had a student on the
line that he had great respect for. Toward the end of our conversation he
remarked, “You are one of the best students I ever talked to. You will find out
what this problem is because I can see you won’t quit.” During the time I was contacting all the
universities I went to the feedlot to talk to Bobbie. I was met with his crew that informed me that
Bobbie had left the organization and was no longer there. At that moment everything fell upon me and I
was left without any support. But God was with me.
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| BOBBIE CAVNAR WITH THE POPE |
As a sort of epilogue to this story, just a year later in
July of 1970 I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and started speaking in tongues
in bed at midnight. I lived in Sarcoxie
and worked on my farm until June 1971, at which time I went to South Florida
and managed a small animal clinic. In May 1972 I returned to North Texas and
lived in Argyle. A lady that attended my
home bible study there started talking about a man named Bob Cavnar. At one point I said, “What does this man look
like?” She described him and I said to myself that this has to be Bobbie. There were some Charismatic meetings at Moody
Coliseum in Dallas and I attended one of them. There to my surprise was Bobbie
Cavnar leading the meeting. After the
meeting I went looking for him and someone told me where he was at. I went to
that location and Bobbie said, “Doc is that you?” and I answered, “This is me,
Bobbie!” He said, “That feedlot was full of demons!” I couldn’t disagree. I saw him half a dozen times after that in
1974 or 1975; I also spent a couple of hours with him in his home in North Dallas. I was seeking a right way for me and my
family to go. We spent about two hours
talking and he said to me, “Pray, and if God would like you to join us you are
welcome.” I thanked him and said I would, however that was not the way God
wanted me to walk. The last time I saw
Bobbie was in a restaurant in North Dallas.
At that time I had my ministry in Plano and was on radio and television.
God had two people involved in the business and professional world that worked
together in the flesh and both ended up in worldwide ministries.
Selling Out
I had become a successful
businessman with a few investments. But in 1969, even in the middle of dealing
with the feedlot, there was only one investment I was unhappy with and while
driving down the highway one afternoon, I said out loud to God, “If this is you
that has been bugging me all these years, if you will sell my share of this
corporation, I will do whatever you ask”.
The very next day while stopping at a Dairy Queen for something to drink
I ran into the other share holders and they asked me about my share of this
corporation. “Would you sell your part?” they asked. I responded, “Do you want
to buy it?” They replied, “Perhaps...” I said, “If we could agree, when would
you want to buy it?” They said “1:00 PM
today.” I was on my way to Denison, Texas to treat a horse; it was about 11:00.
We discussed the price, I said I will meet you at the bank at 1:00 PM. The
whole transaction was completed that afternoon. I was a happy man.
But two weeks later while driving
down the same highway again, the Lord spoke to me, “Sell your hospital and
veterinary practice and obey me.” I
answered him, “I didn’t say I would do that,” and the Lord replied, “You said
if I would sell your share of the corporation, you would do whatever I ask.” I
answered back, “Well it didn’t include that!” Our conversation was somewhat
lengthy. I finally said to God, “Nobody will buy it!” He replied, “Your partner
will.” I said, “No, he is a good veterinarian, but he can’t run a business.” The Lord said “I’ll make him buy it,” and he
did. After that there was no way I could back out, I knew I was had and had to
do what I said I would do. After that discussion the only thing I could do was
sell it. I sold the hospital along with my practice and on January 2, 1970
Patti and I drove away from my hospital with a tear on my cheek. Patti was an
unhappy girl. Over the next couple of years I divested myself of all my
investments. I sold my first farm April of 1970 and the mare Patti of Oaks in
1971.
Laying Down My Life
For the next ten years I
laid down my life and followed the Lord Jesus, him teaching me. God led me into
the wilderness of Argyle and Carrolton. He taught me, humbled me, and proved me
as in Deuteronomy 8:
1 All the commandments which I command thee this day
shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess
the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.
2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord
thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to
prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his
commandments, or no.
In June 1970 God visited me
again and instructed me to pray for the United States of America, which I have
done faithfully ever since.
In 1977 I moved back to
McKinney and began attending the First United Methodist Church. I became
President of the Fellowship Class, a bible teacher and was certified by the
North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Churches to be a lay speaker.
The Temptation
In February of 1980 I was
offered a chance to buy back my hospital which was in receivership for a very
good price. For three days I asked God what he wanted me to do. For three days God would ask, “Do you want
it?” After three days of his questioning I woke up and said, “Oh! It is not
important what I want, it’s what YOU want!” Then he stopped talking. I kept asking, “What do you want? It’s not
what I want.” He wouldn’t answer. This
went on for a while then he finally responded, “I don’t want you to have it.”
Fear came on me. I could have missed what God wanted for me! I heard it once
said about Jesus when he was tempted the plan of God could have been missed, he
could have yielded to the devil. The plan for my life could have been stopped that
day.
Six weeks later while
driving west on Highway 380 in Denton County God told me to go to Plano and
speak to the people of Plano. I replied
what do I say to them? He said read in Acts where Paul went to Antioch and you
will understand. That is where my public
ministry began, 34 years ago.
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