1963-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1963 April Voice | Page 17

Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse
15
attle of Mew Orleans Good For Walking Horse Classes
FROM THE TAMPA TRIBUNE
Jimmie Richardson hasn't ridden
a horse since he teas about 6, but he
has played peppy tunes on the organ
for thousands of them in 17 years. He’s
the music man for many horse shows.
Thi is his second year at the
Tampa Horse Show.
Does it make any difference to the
horses what iilt his music has?
“Some trainers think it does, other
trainers say some horses don’t like
music," Richardson said.
“Some people train horses to
music," Richardson’s wife, Margaret,
added. She’s with him on a short ca­
ution from their home in Shelbyville,
Tenn., where family includes three
daughters, ages 17, II and 8.
“I guess I play about 150 tunes,” he
said of the peppy music he seems to
give just the right amount of bounce.
"I keep up with as many of the
popular tunes as you can decipher.”
Old favorites such as “When You
Wore a Tulip,” “Ain’t She Sweet,”
and “Easter Parade” come from Rich­
ardson’s organ.
"Battle of New Orleans" is a good
one for Walking Horses, Richardson
said.
"It has a certain rhythm that goes
real good," he remarked. "Midnight in
Moscow” was another he played a lot
last season.
Tunes Pianos
From February to Ocoiber eaclt year
his musical travels take him 30,000
miles. When he’s not traveling to
horse shows, he tunes pianos in Shelby­
ville where the population rises from
12,000 to 65,000 paid admissions dur­
ing the seven-day Labor Day week-end
Tennessee Walking Horse National
Celebration.
He said he “drifted into” his occu­
pation. He was 20 when he bought
;m organ. He’s 37 now. He began
playing at one-night shows; his first
was at Lebanon, Tenn.
"I’ve had piano lessons, but never
organ lessons.” He never uses music
when he plays.
A couple of times he has thought
he might have to dive off the organ
seat when horses got off course and
headed toward the center of the ring.
Few Competitors
He’s one of a sparsely populated
profession. He knows very few organ­
ists devoting full time to horse shows.
Music at a horse show is really for
the crowd more than the horses, he
said. Music adds the festive note as
it does to the Broadway show, he said.
The jumper class at a horse show
doesn’t have musical accompaniment
because the judges couldn’t hear the
hoofs if they tick the jump not quite
clearing it.
Richardson seldom goes to a horse
show if lie’s not playing for it. He
however, and says each horse show is
a little bit different.
He has four organ record albums,
one which he recorded with Boots
Randolph on the saxophone. He’s his
own booking agent and one show gen­
erally leads to another,
knows a good animal when he sees it,
H. L. Worrell Story Highly Praised
By Friends, Says John H. Parker
Mr. Ben A. Green
P. O. Box 96
Shelbyville, Tennessee
Dear Sir;
First 1 would like to introduce my­
self. My name in John Parker. My two
brothers and myself operate the Ford
Dealership here in Murray. We have a
three hundred acre farm four miles
from Murray, Ky., and we have gotten
interested in Tennessee Walking
Horses.
1 subscribed to your magazine three
months ago and I would like to tell
you how much I enjoy it. I think it is
one of the best magazines I have ever
read. I look forward to it each month
so please keep it coming.
Mr. Green, we have several mares,
one in foal to Midnight Mack. In fact,
we have just purchased stock in Mack.
But really what I am writing to you
about is to let you know that I have
let several people read Mr. H. L. Wor­
rell’s write up about old Son of Mid­
night dying and they said that it was
one of the best stories they had ever
read. I think myself that it was one of
the most touching stories that I have
ever read. Mr. Worrell is a very close
friend of mine and I have been to his
stables and have eaten dinner with
him several times. In fact, I sold Mr.
Worrell a new 1963 Ford. His color
was gold for his golden wedding anni­
versary. I bought a two year old walk­
ing mare from him not long ago. She
is one of the finest two year olds that
1 have ever seen.
Bought Young Stallion
About three and one half months
ago my brother, Joe, and I were down
at Mr. Worrell’s looking around for
some brood mares and ran up on a lit­
tle 7 months old black stallion. It was
back in January, cold and miserable,
that day but we asked Mr. Worrell
all about him. At that time, the little
Publication of this letter in its entire­
ty is carried out in space sponsored
by John H. Parker as a tribute to the
owner of Son of Midnight—to his
great late stallion—and to the hand­
some young stallion the Parkers ac­
quired. The Voice invites sponsorship
of this kind so we can help tell the full
story of the Tennessee Walking Horse.
BAG.
stallion did not look like anything.
Mr. Worrell said that he was Son of
Midnight’s son. He was also a half
brother to Ebony Masterpiece and a
double bred grandson to Midnight
Sun. Now you will have to agree with
me that this is just about as high as
you can go in breeding a stallion line.
We bought him, loaded him in our
trailer and brought him home, and
Mr. Green, he is going to make one of
finest W orld Champion Walking
Horses you have ever seen.
If you are ever down at Murray or
even at Kentucky Lake State Park,
please come to Murray and stop in at
our Ford dealership and I will be glad
to take you out and show him to you.
So Mr. Green, my two brothers and
myself and our little 9 months old
stallion our Son of Midnight’s son.
named "Son’s Son of Midnight King”
would like very much to pay our re­
spect and tribute to one of the finest
Walking Horse stallions that I have
ever seen, “Son of Midnight.”
So again, 1 would like to tell you
and your wife that the “Voice of Ten­
nessee Walking Horses” is one of the
finest magazines that I have ever read.
If you can publish this in the next is­
sue, please do so. If there are any
charges for doing this, please send the
bill to me in care of Fairlane stables,
Murray, Kentucky.
Respectfully yours,
John H. Parker
Parker Motors
Murray, Ky.
(A bill will be sent. BAG)