1964-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1964 December Voice | Page 15

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Walla fairgrounds can boast of a
very good indoor ring, with good
seating arrangements. (The over­
head electric heat was much appre­
ciated.)
This exhibition marked a “first”
for Walla Walla and the fair­
grounds as well as a first for the
Inland Empire Tennessee Walking
Horse Association. Local members
arranged the program. Emphasis
was placed on the versatility of
the Walking horse.
First came an exhibition of trail
horses. And these were actually
trail horses. I had the opportunity
to see some of them when they
were first unloaded on the grounds.
Everything was strange to them,
the crowd of people, the indoor
ring, the many cars, and bustling
barns. It was chilly, and some were
snorty. A seated audience was
quite a distraction. But, it was an
education to see how quickly these
horses adapted. At first, some could
see no sense in going through a
gate stuck out in the middle of a
ring when it was so easy to go
around, and why step on a “bridge”
of 12 two by six planks when
there was perfectly good sawdust
footing all around. Even the good
old familiar tumbleweeds looked
strange in this setting, two huge
ones set out there for the horses
to go in and around. Mr. and Mrs.
M. L. Horney led the trail horse
group. Mr. Horney opened the
gate, rode through, then Mrs. Hor­
ney followed and shut the gate.
She had difficulty getting the gate
closed, so her Walker finally
nudged it shut with his nose. It
took three nudges to accomplish
the job and hold it in place while
Mrs. Horney slipped the loop over
to hold it shut. You could see that
horse “think”! Mrs. Horney rides
her nice grey with a hackamore
and a Western saddle she designed
AND MADE herself! After the
program I asked to inspect the
saddle at close range and satisfied
myself that she knew what she
was doing. The saddle is made of
top quality leather, and designed
to fit a horses’ back. She has cut
down on weight wherever pos­
sible without sacrificing comfort
or practicality. The skirts are
DECEMBER, 1964
rounded and of minimum size. The
saddle weighs just 26 pounds.
Some of the horses in the trail
class were just youngsters. Some
were ridden with hackamores,
some with bits, some with tie­
downs. None were accustomed to
performing in a show ring, but the
fact that they were not, made
for a better show in this instance
because the audience could actually
see these intelligent horses learning
and adjusting right before their
eyes. And, it is impossible to give
too much credit to the riders who
were good enough sports to bring
their horses in, and show in
strange surroundings, just to help
promote the breed.
Then, for variety, trainer Charles
Court of The Dalles, Oregon, show­
ed Dr. and Mrs. Roberts’ SOUTH­
ERN SUPERMAN. This is a beau­
tiful 3 year old stallion with just
6 months training, GO BOY bred
out of a MIDNIGHT SUN mare.
This was his first time out in any
arena. He put on a flawless exhi­
bition. (Dr. Roberts said he hadn’t
been cantered over half a dozen
times, but he had a canter to be
envied!) We’ll hear more of this
boy.
SOCIETY MERRY WIDOW, a
model mare shown extensively at
halter, one of the last offspring of
SOCIETY MAN, was shown next.
Again the versatility of the Walker
was pointed out. This mare was
shown early in the season in
pleasure classes. Then as she grew
a toe and weight was added she
was shown in stake classes, with
Mrs. Roberts or Charles Court up.
A nice showing of mares and
foals was next on the program.
Jim and Dixie Davis’ BONNIES’
GOLDEN JOY. now bred to GO
MIDNIGHT BOY, was shown with
her first colt, sired by THE FLY­
ING DOLLAR.
WHITE ANGEL, more properly
DOROTHY’S WHITE ANGEL, was
shown with her colt, ANGEL’S
HALF DOLLAR. Needless to say,
THE FLYING DOLLAR was the
sire. This mare is now 17 years
old, and had her first foal at 15.
She is now bred to STORMY MID­
NIGHT. She has been high point
mare in performance years in suc­
cession. Never below first in halter
in 13 showings, she has collected
quite an array of trophies over
the years. This day we saw her
proudest accomplishment.
Between exhibitions, little Julie
Ann Jackson, a 4-H activity girl,
demonstrated “gyping” or “long-
lining” a horse. (Many in the audi­
ence were not “dyed in the wool”
horse people, and this was some­
thing new to these folks.)
Dale Lane, (he and Mrs. Lane
were largely responsible for the
show, with wonderful support from
many) led the pleasure horse group
into the ring. Here we saw both
English and Western equipment
being used. White Angel made her
entry in Western equipment. She
knew what she was in that ring for,
and she performed. Her baby was
in one of the calf pens right along
side the arena, and he was squeal­
ing and kicking the pen to pieces,
so she was showing under most
trying circumstances. But show she
did, and look she did, and pose she
did. Quite a gal, that one!
Mrs. Roberts showed THE FLY­
ING DOLLAR in the Get of Sire
exhibition. DOLLAR has been
high point horse in Oregon for two
years in a row. This year he travel­
led over 15,000 miles to show. He’s
a big horse, standing 17 hands with
his “show toe”. Seven years old.
Mr. Cour also showed GO MID­
NIGHT BOY. This nice 4 year old
had just covered himself with glory
at the Cow Palace by winning the
Junior Championship of the Coast.
His dam was a MIDNIGHT SUN
mare, sire MERRY GO BOY. He is
quite the opposite of THE FLYING
DOLLAR, smaller, finer, different
conformation. Like THE DOLLAR,
he puts on a show. As he was per­
forming, obviously with much en­
thusiasm, Dr. Roberts remarked,
“These horses love to show. This
is what they live for.” And then,
as an afterthought, scarcely audi­
ble, “Guess that’s what all of us
do, as a matter of fact.” True, how
true. It gets in the blood!
It was made clear at the be­
ginning that this was not a horse
show. But, it was a well organized
effort on the part of a group of
exceptional enthusiastic Tennes­
see Walking Horse owners to show
the general public the fine quali­
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