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

then parked himself without any help from his train­
er or the ringmaster to get tied third.”
All through dinner they nil talked horses and re­
hashed the past season. Lonny had to admit that it
had been a good year for him. He made note of the
fact that he didn’t win a blue ribbon at the Festival
this year but personally felt that it had been a good
show for him. Someone mentioned his last year’s
World Champion and reminded him that he didn’t
make it to the Festival Horse Show for the Three-
Year-Old Class. Lonny looked somewhat mournful as
he said, "I sure would like to get ol’ TIGER BAY
back again. I wonder how the little hoss is doing?”
Helen broke into the conversation, saying, "Now,
Lonny . . . we’ve been over that a hundred times
and it still comes out the same. He’s gone, so forget
him.”
by Charles Barry Sanderson
Helen doubled up with laughter, saying, "I thought
I would die when he . . . when he . .
and that was
as far as she could get with the discussion. Lonny
laughed out loud as he pulled up a chair and joined
the rest of the group at the big table in the restaur­
ant. Dr. Greely was laughing also, and everyone won­
dered why he thought it was so funny. "Lonny . . .”
he said, "I have seen about everything happen in the
big ring at the Festival, but that was the first time I
ever saw a horse pull up and park himself during the
big stake." Lonny grinned and said, "I assure you,
Doctor ... I didn’t have a thing to do with it. When
OF BEAU come around the turn in the final workout
and made his good pass I just relaxed and actually
thought we had it won . . . but man, man! When he
hit the back turn and headed in on the grass and
parked!! Well, I couldn’t do a damn thing. He just
shook his head as if to say 'That’s all there is . . .
there ain’t no more.’ And, boy, I mean to tell you,
he meant it. He wouldn’t go another step.”
"What got me . . . what got me was the convincing
manner in which he did it,” one of the men said with
a big laugh. "He was so cocksure of himself that even
the ringmaster thought that the announcer had called
for the lineup!” Everyone agreed that BEAU GENTRY
had given them all something to talk about during
the winter, and that next year Lonny would have him
ready for the big one.
Dr. Greely had surprised Lonny with his attitude
toward BEAU GENTRY’S being tied third, especially
after he had gotten so mad at the show. But it was
all history now and the doctor was convinced that
they could win it next year. He had invited Lonny
and Helen and several of their personal friends out
for a steak dinner just to prove that he believed Lon­
ny’s story that BEAU GENTRY gave it everything
he had at the Festival Championship but just "gave
out of gas.” He too was impressed by the bold man­
ner in which his horse "quit” and had to laugh along
with everyone else whenever they talked about "the
time that BEAU GENTRY won the big stake and
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With that, Lonny got up and suggested that they all
go over to his house for a few drinks. Dr. Greely said,
"I appreciate your invitation, ol’ buddy, but I’ve got
a busy schedule at the hospital tomorrow.” Lonny
and Helen walked with him and his wife to the car.
As he pulled out toward the street, Dr. Greely rolled
down the window and yelled, "Try to teach my horse
how to park between now and next year, Lonny!” and
roared with laughter as he drove away.
Several weeks had passed and Lonny had been busy
getting his barn in shape and fixing up around the
stable for winter. It was the usual slump that always
comes after the Festival is over, despite the fact that
there were still several shows to go before the season
would be over.
Little Joe was busily working on the automatic walk­
er when Lonny came in and yelled, "Joe? Joe! Come
on with me and let’s go over to Brockville and get
those tw