THE " BIG COUNTRY " LOVES WALKING HORSES
By Aletha Wiehl
We took a few hours we didn ’ t think we had to drive over to Missoula , Montana . Our first object was to see Mr . and Mrs . E . C . Gray and their Walkers . “ Preach ” has a small compact stable built to withstand the coldest , windiest winter day , and his horses are under his personal care . Preach saddled his own gelding “ JUNIOR ,” whom he has shown successfully several seasons , for Lloyd to ride out cross-country . Preach rode the Bob Keyser ’ s ‘ “ QUEEN ’ S LIL JOE ” a full brother to “ JOE ’ S LIL QUEEN ” who made such a showing last fall at the Pacific International . This stallion has a good smooth way of going and shows promise of developing great speed . After a short pleasure ride , Preach mounted “ JUNIOR ” and took him around the ring a few times to show us what he could do in his running walk . That horse can fly . Not many will be able to catch him .
Mr . and Mrs . S . L . Weidner of Coeur d ’ Alene , Idaho , have their beautiful “ MERRY GO MID NIGHT ” in training here . This horse can look thru a bridle like a fine harness horse yet he has all the outstanding qualities of the Tennessee Walking Horse sires , MERRY GO BOY and MIDNIGHT SUN . A black horse , with a nice blaze — he ’ s a picture .
Mr . and Mrs . Bob Keyser have their black stallion , SECRET VEN TURE in training at this stable , too . This is the stallion Bob purchased at Celebration time last
10 year . It ’ s hard to fault his conformation , and I have the word of both Bob and Preach he ’ s a dream to ride . He has a way about him that is hard to resist , and a free , easy way of going .
Helen Gray ’ s pride and joy is a liver chestnut 2 year old filly , K ’ S FEATHER DUSTER . She ’ s a beauty , and time and Preach will soon tell what she can do . She has the breeding and she ’ ll soon have the
training .
The Grays have one brood mare to foal in July bred to MERRY GO MIDNIGHT . This mare , royally bred , is a full sister to “ JUNIOR .” “ GOLDEN FEATHER ” made her place in the show ring . Now the spotlight will be on this foal due in early summer . Another brood mare MIDNIGHT STAR DUST from DEANE ’ S MIDNIGHT JUDY will be bred to MERRY GO MIDNIGHT .
This is a quiet barn . “ Preach ” puts his philosophy of training succinctly , “ Break ’ em lazy , and they ’ re never crazy .” He maintains he ’ d rather “ encourage them on ” then continually yell “ whoa ,” “ whoa ,” “ whoa ” all the time . “ ‘ Cause they can sure get silly .” “ A nice , quiet horse never gives you a minute ’ s trouble . My horses are quiet . But they know they have to work for me . And they show for me .” They do just that . They certainly do ! “ Preach ” may teach them “ gentle ,” but when they go thru the gate you ’ d think Satan was in the saddle or right at their tails .
No mention of the “ Preach ” Gray stable is complete without introducing Jack , the black Labrador who welcomes visitors with a big rock in his mouth , his gimmick for getting extra attention . It works .
And speaking of attracting attention , it was “ Preach ” Gray who showed SGT . O ’ KEEFE , the horse with the golden shoes . It came about more or less by accident when the farrier was searching for the right size shoes to replace some worn ones . “ Preach ” glanced at the gold ones hanging on the tack room wall , and jokingly said , “ Wonder if those would fit !” The farrier took him seriously and “ Preach ” thought “ Well , why not , let him try ’ em .” They fit . And that night in the show they gleamed so brightly under the lights , and attracted so much attention , that next day they made up a pair for the hind feet too . From then on SGT . O ’ KEEFE was introduced as “ the horse with the golden shoes .” Just a bit of razzle-dazzle for the show ring . The crowds enjoyed it , and , incidentally , the judges couldn ’ t overlook him either .
Just as were ready to leave for home , “ Preach ” or Helen happened to mention the Keysers lived only a short drive from Missoula . As a result of correspondence with Bob and Erna Rae , they were on my “ must see ” list . So out we went to their place . There coudn ’ t be a nicer family . We were sorry to learn that Bob had had a severe heart attack in March and still had to take it a bit easy . But that didn ’ t keep him from leaping on “ HEY JOE ” their wonderful ‘ foundation sire ,’ and zipping away in a running walk to bring in the brood mares and fillies .
This ranch is located in a beautiful valley , with the mountain glaciers coming down almost to the valley floor at this time of the year . As the mares ran in , with that beautiful mountain background , it made a picture long to be remembered . This is perfect riding country , gently sloping up to the mountains , covered with beautiful scattered evergreens . This year the Walking Horse Association in Montana voted to ride into the Bob Marshall Wilderness area on the annual trail ride , probably the last week end in July . A very distinguished guest who owns and rides Walkers on his ranch in Texas , is to be invited . News has not been released to the press as yet , so you ’ ll just have to “ guess who !” I hope he can fin the time to make it , as any one would find relaxation in this beautiful country with these wonderful people . This is Big country , and the people measure up to it . You meet them , and you want to stay , and get the place “ right next door .
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