1967-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1967 June Voice RS | Page 18

in a flat-foot walk Lonny could hear Little Joe comment
on his progress. “Right thah, Mista Lonny, he done
dropped down in the back end whah he ought to be and
is doing it about right.” The black colt had about gotten
used to the boots and was settling down with a swinging
motion in his back end. He was overstriding about five
feet in the flat foot and shaking his head with a deep
nodding motion. Young Mr. Barnes was obviously pleased
with the reaction he had received to his experiment. He
knew that some horses would pull up and quit when
the going got rough, but this colt didn’t know what
“quit” meant. It seemed to be his nature to go against
the grain!
After working the colt into a sweat in the flat-foot
walk, Lonny was prompted by his viewing audience to
“let him go running walk.” He made the last turn in the
barn and as he passed his friends he said, “Let’s take him
outside and see what he can do.” As he hit the crest of
by Charles Barry Sanderson
It was a sad day for both Lonny Barnes and Little
Joe when the van pulled out of the drive and headed for
Houston, Texas. Naturally, Lonny and everyone con­
nected with him felt that they owed TIGER BAY a
large part of the success that they had experienced in
the horse business in the past year. Mr. Larson watched
the truck go over the hill and said, “Well, Lonny . . .
there he goes. Do you suppose we will ever see him
again?” Lonny looked at the ground and said, “We’ll
probably see him around.” Helen spoke up and said,
“Honey, what’s bothering you? It looks to me as if
everything has worked out all right. Besides, you know
he’ll have a good home.” The only comment that Lonny
would make was, “I’m just wondering if Archie Diego
can get along with him. After three days here with me
helping him, he still couldn’t ride that horse right.”
Intent on keeping his mind off his loss, Lonny had
put in a hard day riding his stock. He was particularly
pleased with his black colt and was eager to work him
for his owner, Mr. Mark Bullard of Greenbriar, Alabama.
Mr. Bullard had called him early that morning and had
told him that he was coming over in the late afternoon,
so Lonny had put a little extra effort into getting his
horse right.
It was about five o’clock before his visitors arrived and
Don Hill and two other horse enthusiasts had arrived
“on time,” as they did almost every' afternoon. After Mr.
Bullard had met everyone they all settled back along
the edge of the hallway to watch Lonny work this colt.
As Lonny was putting on the bridle on the colt he said,
“Mr. Bullard, have you come up with a name for this
colt yet?” Mr. Bullard replied, “I sure have! How do
you like CHUG-A-LUG?” Lonny turned and smiled at
him. “You got to be kidding,” he said. “No . . . I’m
serious. I think it is a great name for a big-time black
stallion. I just like the sound of it.” Lonny didn’t answer
he just mounted the colt. After arguing with his charge
for a minute they settled down to some serious work.
Lonny had decided to put just a little bit more pressure
on this colt recently and had decided to work him for
the first time with boots on.
The colt obviously didn’t care for the boots and was
trying to work out of them. As he moved down the hall
a little rise he clucked to his mount and dug his spurs
into him. The colt quivered as if he was going to try to
stop but without breaking stride he took one giant step
and literally set his rider in the rumble seat with a burst
of action that knocked Lonny’s hat off. Lonny settled
down and released his hold on the reins. The colt cocked
his head and rearing back another notch moved into a
driving running walk that set up a howl from the on­
lookers. Little Joe yelled. “CHUG-A-LUG . . . CHUG-
A-LUG . . . MAKES YA WANNA HOLLER HI-DE-
HO!” Everyone was laughing as Lonny pulled up beside
them. “You know . . . that ain’t such a bad name after
all.”
Little Joe set to work on CHUG-A-LUG the moment
Lonny dismounted and the others went into the office.
They were engrossed in the exciting small talk that only
horse people can generate when a potentially great horse
takes his first big step, when the phone rang. “Lonny
Barnes Stables,” answered Lonny, as he sat down on the
edge of his desk. “Just a minute. You guys get quiet, will
ya?” He went on to say, “Now then . . . what can I do for
you.” The party calling was from a national horse mag­
azine and wanted confirmation on the rumor that TIGER
BAY had been sold for seventy-five thousand dollars to
some millionaire in Texas. Lonny spoke up and said,
“We did sell him but the price wasn’t that much. Well
. . . let’s just say he brought top dollar. Probably more
than any three-year-old ever!” He went on to say, “It
worked out well for everybody. I hope they can get
along with him. Yes mam! Thank you.” As he started
to hang up he quickly added, “Oh yes . . . you might say
that I ve got another two-year-old that should be even
better than TIGER. His name?” Lonny l