1964-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1964 June Voice | Page 34

By Lowell H. Clemmons, Sr., M.D. Cullman, Alabama It is with rare pleasure that we wel­ come the distinguished man o{ let­ ters, Dr. Lowell H. Clemmons to the VOICE staff of life. Dr. Clemmons is perhaps best known for his forthright approach to the horse business as re­ flected in his articles (by the same name) which appear annually in the "Blue Ribbon” Yearbook of the Cele­ bration, Incorporated. Dr. Clemmons has a keen understanding of the horse business and attempts to clarify many of the problems of the horse world by relating situations, antecedents and stories which reflect the true situation. We are sure you will appreciate the fact that “Dr. Clemmons Rides Again!” THE EDITORS Patsy, my oldest daughter—by marriage—(that is by marriage to my son Philip) is one of my favor­ ite people to tell stories to. I think she and I laugh at the same things and a lot of times we laugh when other people don’t think things are funny. Several times I have told her the story of Duke, a horse I once had and since she and I get so tickled about this story, she in­ sists that I write it just for our en­ tertainment. A number of years ago when we were living in Brewton, I bought a horse named Duke. His breeding was unknown, but I bought him from a friend of mine who hunted a great deal and he assured me that I could hunt from the horse without ever having to get off — that is if I had a dog that would bring the birds back to me. So I bought the horse and I did hunt a good bit from his back. Occa­ sionally he would shudder a little bit when I shot a gun, but he be­ haved pretty well. As a matter of fact the only things he was mor­ tally afraid of were railroad trains and bulldozers. Either one of these 34 would really tear his nerves up and he would literally explode. I found out later that when he was a colt his mother ran into a train and killed herself and the rider and left him an orphan. Anyhow, I liked Duke and spent many hours riding him. One of my friends one day told me that Duke’s mother was half Thoroughbred and half Walking Horse and that his father was a registered Thorough­ bred and a great jumper. In case you don’t know, Hunters and Jumpers actually are of the breed Thoroughbreds. Then he said that when Duke was younger he himself had been quite a jumper. So I figured that if the horse once could jump he still could jump. One nice sunshiny fall day I was out bird hunting and I came to a fence which was covered a good bit with ivy and under­ growth and I had the choice of either going about three quarters of a mile to a gate or jumping the fence, so I decided that since Duke was a jumper, I would jump the fence. As a boy I had ridden jump­ ers a good bit and actually it was a sport I used to enjoy. So I rode Duke up to the fence so he could estimate the height of his required jump, then I circled for the ap­ proach and he started as any good jumper should toward the fence. He was switching his tail and snort­ ing and I felt elated to again be astride a jumper. However, in­ stead of taking the customary ap­ proach, he kept going faster and faster until he was actually run­ ning. The final result must be ob­ vious to you. He never left the ground. When I stood up in the stirrups and tightened the rein to make 1he jump, he just ran a little harder smack dab into that fence and the two of us rolled head over heels for at least a 100 yards or less. We tore the fence down and both of us had multiple lacerations and abrasions. Shortly thereafter I sold Duke and the last I heard about him, a friend of mine was hunting him down by Mobile in the swamps and had killed two turkeys. He had one turkey on each side of the saddle and the turkeys apparently “spooked” him, because he took off with the saddle and turkeys, but no rider. The report was that two weeks later he was still running through the swamps with the turkeys and saddle hang­ ing beneath him. The New And Improved HUMANE TAIL U. S. Patent No. 2484766 SAVE TIME — SAVE MONEY ORDER DIRECT HUMANE TAIL_ _ _ _ _ $62.50 complete with brace SWITCHES ....... $35.00 extra heavy — full length CAPS...... .................. $35.00 extra heavy All orders shipped first class mail, rates are postpaid. All colors are now available. Send sample of at least 50 hairs. Guaranteed delivery of 1 week to 10 days. Complete set of illustrated instructions. ORDER DIRECT Manufactured by C. C. TURNER FARMS Broadway, Virginia FOR SALE Top-bred mares, colts and yearlings Mares bred to MIDNIGHT SUN, SUN'S BIG SHOT, MIDNIGHT MACK K and STATELY'S GO BOY Visitors Always Welcome LESLIE WHITE Route # 1 Williamsport, Tennessee (Near Columbia) Phones: 388-4750 or 583-2373 VOICE of The Tennessee Walking Horse