THE HUMAN ELEMENT
It has been said that " the only thing wrong with the Walking Horse business is the people in it . It has also been said that the horse business ( as we know it ) gives us the rare opportunity to see the absolute best and the absolute worst in the same people . The enthusiasm for success in the horse business is unlike any other activity which we know . Consider the man who will fight a judge over an opinion and yet will spend all night helping the same man get a horse trailer out of a ditch . This is the " human elemen that is hard to fathom in many areas of business and general activity . . . especially the horse business . ^
Occasionally we witness the " human element work in a situation which produces a & roS := mlscaJ " age of justice to one of our fellows . At the iecent Columbia Spring Jubilee we were interested in a development in the Two-Year-Old Stallion Class . One particular horse , which is regarded as a g ®
tender for championship honors by a lot o^nowledg able horsemen , made the final workout but did not get
a ribbon . This was particularly interesting to us sine we were discussing the progress of e several recognized experts and they w go among themselves as to whether this particular horse would tie first , second or third .
The " human element ” comes into play when you consider that the horse was ridden by a trainer relatively unknown in Middle Tennessee . No doubt , had he been ridden by a welI-knowrn top professional , he would have tied at the top . We are not questioning the ability or integrity of the judges — they had a job to do and they did it — however , we do wonder how such knowledgable and recognized experts could miss such an outstanding horse . The usual answer is , of course ... " I just didn ’ t like him ,” and that will be the end of that . There is another facet to this type of situation that
hurts all of us . The man who owns the horse is new in the business . He has the enthusiasm and interest to invest a lot of money with all of us , but . . . can we keep him interested if he receives this sort of treatment very often ? Chances are that we can ’ t !
We would like to point out that we are not taking anything away from the other horses in the class . It was a fine class and in our opinion the horse that got the blue deserved it . He is a great Two-Year-Old and
has a top trainer . The " human element ” is also seen in other situations which are equally interesting . For instance , there is one section of the country in which we find the established horsemen ( both professionals and amateurs ) being faced with a crop of young , energetic and knowledgable trainers who are easing their way into the big time . Instead of keeping pace with these young upstarts by improving their own training techniques or by getting better horses , they have instigated an elaborate system of pre-show inspections of our breed that is designed to eliminate as much competition as possible .
They have even gone so far as to seek legislative measures designed to regulate these inspections with state support . The result has been that they have lost control of the situation and are getting caught in their own trap . The " inspectors ” thus far have been individuals who are not Walking Horse oriented and are completely lacking in any knowledge of our horse , our problems or our goals . Where this will eventually lead is a matter of speculation but we cannot envision the merit of such an approach as being in the best interest of our breed . The " sore loser ” has long been famous for his cry of " sore horse ” and he would rather see the whole business collapse than admit that the other fellow has a better horse . This is the " human element ” at its best ( or worst , as the case may be ). Another prime example of the " human element ” was a situation in which a state Walking Horse organization actually prohibited the showing of " Tennessee owned or Tennessee trained horses ” at their shows . This appears to be the best example that I have seen of the " human element ” in the horse business . If we were to question the perpetrators of this scheme we would most certainly hear stories of gross mistreatment of horses and inhumane training practices by Middle Tennessee trainers . This , of course , would be their reason for banning these horses from the show ring in that state . It would be interesting , however , to note the " won — lost ” record of trainers from the mother country who had invaded the sanctuary of that particular association .
DO ALL YOUR . FRIENDS TAKE THE " VOICE "? IF NOT . NOW IS A GOOD TIME FOR THEM TO SUBSCRIBE .
June , 1968