impressed with the showing you made last week and has convinced us that we should leave the horse with you .” Little Joe , who was not supposed to be listening , let out a chuckle , causing the men to all turn to him . " You think that ’ s a good idea , Joe ?” asked Lonny . " Yassuh , Mista Lonny . If you can ’ t win it with him , nobody can ,” he said , to the amusement of the other men .
As soon as the big yellow Cadillac pulled out of the driveway , Lonny got on the phone . " Honey Bun , if you want to see six thousand dollars , you better get down here to the barn .” He hung up and called Mr . Larson at his office . " Mr . Larson , we just sold half of your horse to three of the biggest men in the business . Come by the house tonight and I ’ ll settle up with you .” by Charles Barry Sanderson
Lonny had been waiting all day for the arrival of his visitors from Middle Tennessee . About two in the afternoon , Little Joe came running into the barn and said , " Mista Lonny , they ’ s a big yeller Cadillac cornin ’ up the road to the barn .” Lonny looked around to make sure - that everything was shipshape . He wanted his stable to look really professional for these men . He had heard about them and knew that they had all owned some top horses before .
Lonny was sitting behind his desk when they opened the door . " Come on in . . . I ’ ll be with you in a minute ,” he said . He came out to shake hands with his cigar-chewing friend and was introduced to two other men . " This is Lonny Barnes , fellows . He ’ s the young man that upset some of the big boys last weekend over at Duraville .”
After working several of his better horses for his visitors , Lonny called to Little Joe , " Go get Tiger Bay out , Joe ... I believe they came to see him .” They all laughed . Joe pulled the bay out of his stall and led him to the cross-tie . The three men gathered around to give a keen eye to every feature of the colt . As Lonny bitted him up , taking his time with every strap and hook , Little Joe put the saddle on him . Tiger Bay had been groomed three times already that day and really looked the part of a show horse . The bright new green-and-white blanket that they had on him didn ’ t hurt anything , either . They had just gotten it back from the saddle shop the day before , with the name " TIGER BAY ” printed on the side .
Lonny worked Tiger for about thirty minutes . He really didn ’ t work as well as Lonny had hoped , but he thought , " They never do right when you want to show them off .” The three men looked him over very carefully . They checked the tail to see how it had been set , as well as checking his feet and mouth . After studying the pedigree papers carefully , the man with the diamond stickpin finally said , " Lonny , we have heard your proposition . Our only worry , and don ’ t take me wrong , is whether or not you can get the job done in the big ring .” Lonny smiled , and wished he had his whittling stick to cut on . The man went on , " However , our man here was very much
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" Little Joe ,” he said , " we just might make it after all !”
The Lonny Barnes Stables was doing quite well for itself . Since opening for business in the early spring , they had come up with one top contender for the Annual Walking Horse Festival and several other good Saturday-night show horses , and had three better-than-average Amateur riders . In addition to having all but four of his twenty-four stalls filled , Lonny had managed to pay his bills and buy a pretty good used six-horse van . As August rolled around , Lonny was very much aware of the upcoming National Walking Horse Festival . He had showed his bay two-year-old six times since they had sold a half interest in him , and had not yet been defeated . His competition had been the best , but still there were two or three other horses from other parts of the country that a lot of people were talking about . One thing Lonny lacked at this point was confidence .
He had been contacted by several of the national horse magazine representatives at horse shows and one had even been to his stable . He was really making the news with his little bay stud , and this helped a lot . Lonny had talked with the horse ’ s owners about promotion on the colt and was told to do anything that he wanted , and to send them their part of the bill . He and Mr . Larson had decided to get some action pictures made about the middle of the summer , and they turned out pretty well . Then they decided to run three ads on the horse in the magazines before the Festival . When the first issue had come out with their ad in it , Lonny gathered in the office with the others who were interested and looked his ad over . It said in big print , " A TOP CONTEND ER . . . TIGER BAY . . . Lonny Barnes , Up .” Lonny looked at it again and again . The picture made his horse look bigger than he really way . Lonny thought to himself , " They say he swells up when I show him , but I didn ’ t think he got that big .” He read the copy underneath the picture and checked the list of owners . He had to admit that he was pretty pleased . Little
Joe , looking over their shoulders , was saying , " Mista Lonny , dat little hoss look like ol ’ Triple Treat hisself .” Looking through the magazine , Lonny was sur-
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