1968-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1968 July Voice RS | Page 28

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T E
PROFESSIONALS
on PARADE
A Different Kind of Professsonsifl
Whenever we think of a professional horse trainer,
we automatically turn toward the showring profes­
sional who trains and shows horses for a living. There
are professional trainers, however, who do not show
horses for a living. One such man is Gibb Stepp of
High Rock Stables, Winter Haven, Florida, our r'Pro­
fessional on Parade” for this month.
Gibb Stepp is a young man who was born in Walk-
in0- Horse country. McMinnville, Tennessee was his
home as a boy and his father, Wade Stepp, trained
and showed Walking Horses for many years. As a
youngster Gibb was always around horses and grew
up with the firm intention of becoming a professional
trainer. In his early teens he worked in various stab­
les throughout Middle Tennessee and worked for Win­
ston Wiser for three summers while in high school.
After a two-year term in the Marine Corps, Gibb went
to work in California at the ranch of Rex Elsworth.
He worked as a ranch hand and became proficient
with both Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. He
was working there the year that SWAPS won the
Kentucky Derby, and while there he met a great
character actor named Ben Johnson who was looking
for movie horses.
His association with Mr. Johnson led to an interest
in specialty training and he later went to work for
the actor there in California. While there, Mr. Stepp
became associated with Mr. Les Hilton, the man who
28
Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse