1968-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1968 August Voice RS | Page 10

general took a long Panatella cigar from
slowly unwrapped it. Lonny watched him as h»St and
ed the end in a silver snip and cut off the tiownsert'
to himself, "He must pay more for one of those thanl
pay for a pack of cigarettes.” As the general putthe
long green cigar in his mouth Lonny hastened to light
fTuhT\i K,a
„He t00k a lonS d«g and, blow­
ing the light blue smoke into the air, said "Lonnv
I’ve been general manager of the Festival Horse Show
for over ten years. We work hard to make this the
finest horse show in the country. Every year we sweat
blood trying to find three judges that will give all of
■ IX
QUEST
by Charles Barry Sanderson
(Continued from Lost Month)
The pressure was on and Lonny Barnes, profession­
al Walking Horse trainer, was beginning to show the
strain of the past five weeks. For a man of thirty
years, he had a lot of responsibility. His wife Helen
was expecting their third child and would not attend
the Festival this year. This hurt him because he re­
lied heavily on her for moral support when the going
got rough. He had fooled around and lost his good
two-year-old colt just two months before the big show,
and how he was concerned about the underhanded
activities of his associates, who owned one-half of
BEAU GENTRY.
Lonny had made up his mind about several things.
One ... he was going to put his family first. If Helen
had any trouble he was going to forget the show and
go home. Two ... he was going to stay on the straight
and narrow7 at the show7 — no fooling around — no
drinking. He was there for business and his business
was training and showing horses. Three ... he was
going to show BEAU GENTRY the way he wanted to
show him and if they didn’t like it, they could get
themselves another boy.
The Festival grounds was always an exciting place
a few days before the show began. They had been
there only a few7 hours and, as yet, Lonny hadn’t had
a chance to look around to see who had arrived. As
he and M. L. w7ere putting the finishing touches on
their new tack-room front Lonny was startled to see
Gen. Billy Hohan coming up to his stable. The gene­
ral w7alked up to him and said, "Hello, Lonny . . . real
nice-looking tack room set-up there.” Looking down
from his perch on a tack-box, Lonny said, "Thanks,
General. Just let me finish tacking this front piece on
and I’ll be right with you.” He stepped down, backed
out into the middle of the narrow road in front of the
stable, and said, "There now7 . . . that’s about as pro­
fessional as those gaited-horse boys can get!” The
general laughed and said, "It sure does make us feel
good when you fellows take some pride in your tack
rooms and keep your area clean. It makes us all look
good.”
,
-
General Hohan asked Lonny if he could talk with
him for a few minutes and Lonny c nsented. They
went out into the field behind t'r.e barn ..
where all
the trucks were parked and founu a
Jhe
10
you boys a fair shake. We screen over twenty prospec­
tive judge s and when we finally decide on three they
have been carefully checked as to their financial con­
dition, standing in the business and in their communi­
ty. We try hard to get three men who are knowledg-
able and are above reproach. In other words . . . men
who can’t be bought.” Lonny listened intently, wonder­
ing what the general was leading up to. The general
went on, saying, "Every year we hear rumors of 'fix’
and 'bribe’ and that the championship was bought,
but to my knowledge it has never been done. This
year, however, we have heard a lot of 'barn talk’ that
has us concerned. Do you know anything about it?”
Needless to say, Lonny was a little bit shaken. He
really didn’t know what to say. After a few moments
of silence, he said, "Tell you what, General . . . you
folks have always been good to me. I think the best
thing is for you and me to have a little meeting with
Dr. Greely.”
The Festival Horse Show was well under way and
the suspense was mounting. Lonny was doing fairly
well and thus far was pleased with his stock. His
Juvenile rider, Carol Jones, had tied Reserve in the
Walking Horse Equitation Class and fourth in the
Juvenile 13 and Under Class. He was really pleased
with CHUG-A-LUG, who had tied third in the Three-
Year-Old Stallion Class after making what Lonny felt
was a poor show. He just had a feeling that in the
Three-Year-Old Stake on Friday night he might show
them a CHUG-A-LUG they had never seen before.
His Walking Pony did not go until the following night
so that left all his attention for BEAU GENTRY and
the upcoming Age Stud Class. His only disappoint­
ment was seeing BANJO being shown by another
trainer in the Two-Year-Old Class. He got the gate
and deserved it, but Lonny knew he was a much
better horse.
There was a big crowd around the entry gate and
Lonny jockeyed for position to enter the ring. He
was calm . . • almost to the point of being uncon­
cerned. The three men from 4 SQUARE Enterprises
had just left to go back to their seats and Dr. Greely
was still with him. Lonny looked down at him from
(Continued on page I 14 )
Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse