1967-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1967 September Voice RS | Page 41

the gate in the running walk. This was what they
had stayed all week to see.
Lonny could see through the mass of people around
the entry gate, and he watched the first horse, a big
golden sorrel named ATLAS AGAIN, as he hit the
straightaway in front of the big grandstand. He took
a deep breath and waited for his call. The announcer,
after what seemed to be an eternity, finally said!
"The next contender — BEAU GENTRY — owned
by Dr. and Mrs. George Greely and ridden by Lonny
Barnes.” Lonny gathered the reins of his big horse
and started toward the gate. About twenty feet from
the gate he kicked his horse to ease him into the
running walk. Instead of doing as he was asked,
BEAU GENTRY halted with a strong lurch and tried
to rear up. Lonny almost fell off as this was most
unexpected. A clamour set up, as people stood in
their seats straining for a look at the commotion in
the entryway. BEAU GENTRY tried to turn to the
right and Lonny pulled on the left rein to head him
into the gate. With a severe crack of his whip across
the flank, Lonny finally convinced BEAU that he was
in command, and they came in the gate in a fast flat
foot walk. The crowd clapped, as if to be polite, but
there was none of the enthusiasm that Lonny had
hoped for. BEAU finally hit a fair running walk as
they rounded the far turn.
As he stood at the end of the turn on the grass,
waiting for the other horses to enter the ring, Lonny
figured out what was bothering his horse. He dis­
mounted and went up to jiggle the curb chain. He
whispered in a half-cussing tone, "You lop-eared son
of a buck . . . you are too damn smart for your own
good. Most horses don’t care how they enter the ring.
But you! You insist that we enter the ring in a flat
foot walk because that’s the way it is always done.
Well, you pay attention to me tonight and we’ll give
these people something for their money!” Lonny look­
ed up to see two other trainers in the ring laughing
at him. "You trying to talk him into winning this
thing, young fellow?” oneof them said. Lonny flushed,
trying not to show his anger. Mounting BEAU GEN­
TRY he said, "Yeah . . . and he talks back, too . . .
like Mr. Ed!” He turned toward the vast audience
at the far turn.
At last the twelve entries were in the ring and, as
the announcer called for the horses to take the rail
to the left in a flat foot walk, Lonny tried to pick a
spot where he would have a clear area in which to
work. His thinking was that he would have to do a
little more in the preliminary in order to get into the
final workout, because he was something other than
a popular favorite. To his surprise, however, he felt
that they were picking up crowd support immediately.
As he passed in front of Dr. Greely’s box, Lonny
heard a familiar voice say, "Stay with 'em, Lonny -
you’re doing fine.” He glanced over the rail and saw
his old buddy Dink Fuller sitting next to the doctor.
He smiled and felt just a little bit better.
The announcer called for the running walk just as
Lonny was going into the far turn. As he kicked
BEAU GENTRY into a running walk he remarked
to himself, "That call judge sure ain’t trying to help
me none.” Lonny had only shown BEAU three times
since he had taken him and had always shown m
small rings. He was beginning to feel, for the first
time in his training career, what they mean when
they say "big-time Walking Horse.” BEAU GENTRY
moved as if he owned this ring. He was full of con­
fidence and wanted to GO, so Lonny called on him
as they hit the straightaway. OF BEAU dropped
down in the back end and hit full stride as they
rounded the near turn and started down the back­
side. "Flat foot walk ...” the announcer called. "Let
'em go flat foot walk . . . easy, boys, you got all night
to show off,” he added, as the crowd laughed with
delight.
The canter was called and then the horses were in­
structed to reverse. Lonny eased around where he
could stop near Dr. Greely and Dink Fuller. As he
reached up to loosen the curb chain Dr. Greely said,
"Remember Ralph Wild?” Lonny nodded that he re­
membered, and Dr. Greely continued. "Well, I just
heard that he ran his mouth too much today and
said that if you made the workout there would be
somebody riding herd on you.” Before Lonny could
reply it was time to take the rail on the reverse.
The flat foot walk was uneventful and Lonny thought
everything was going exceptionally well until the
running walk was called. One trainer that he knew
was staying awful close to him and appeared to be
running interference for another rider. Lonny stayed
on the rail and tried to ignore his close company but
things were getting out of hand. As he rounded the
turn and kicked BEAU into the running walk he was
very much aware of a big roan gelding that was
crowding his horse. To his right was the rail and a
mass of wildly cheering fans ... to his left was a
romping, stomping horse with a singleminded rider
. . . behind him was a thundering herd of other horses
going equally fast. That left the only space for im­
provement in front, and Lonny decided to chance it
With BEAU GENTRY already in a fast running walk,
he gathered the reins in his right hand and cracked
his mount with his crop.
Sensing the cue, the rider on the big roan gelding
did likewise and the ensuing charge down the rail
brought the fans to their feet. Lonny carried his
horse as close to the rail as he could with safety,
but as they hit the turn the horse on the inside stay­
ed with him. This is what the mass of viewers came
to see and they loved it - not knowing that an ul­
terior motive was behind the actions of several riders
in the class.
The exciting horse race that climaxed the prelimi­
nary workout had obviously attracted the crowd. The
spectators knew that the big roan gelding didn’t have
a chance anyway but was being worked overtime in
an effort to beat someone else.
Lonny pulled up in front of the big grandstand near
Dr. Greely’s box. He dismounted and went to work
with Little Joe on stripping the big black stud for
the Championship conformation judging. 01’ BEAU
was blowing fairly hard as a result of his last turn
of the ring. Sweat was dripping off his belly as Little
Joe feverishly worked to dry him off. Lonny wiped
off the saddle and, pulling up the stirrup leathers in
the traditional manner, set the saddle in front of
his horse. He stepped to the rail and spoke to Dink
Fuller, "How about it, buddy?” he asked as he lit
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September, 1967