1969 Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1969 January Voice RS | Page 16

Two weeks had passed and Lonny had been working
to get several prominent men in the horse business to
meet with him and Dr. Greely to discuss the breeding
business. He had just finished supper when he saw a
car pull up in front of the house. "I believe Dr. Greely
just got here. Can you finish up in the kitchen?” he
said to Helen as he got up and started toward the
front door. Helen said, "Sure . . . you go ahead, and
I 11 get the kids to bed and come on in later. Do you
want coffee?”
As the group gathered, Lonny made a personal note
that these were some of the finest people in the Walk-
IX
QUEST
OIv
-V BLUE
by Charles Barry Sanderson
Success brings on problems of its own making, and
Lonny Barnes was having his share. As the first of
the year rolled around, Lonny was trying to get "all
his ducks in a row” so he could check his financial
condition. He had done well the past year and had
made about sixteen thousand dollars of what he called
"take-to-the-barn pay” which included commissions on
the horses he had sold. His problem at the present
was whether or not to add on to his barn in an effort
to take on some more training horses. He knew about
twelve people who wanted him to take young horses
to break and start, and he just didn’t have room for
them. Another problem was his breeding operation.
He had left most of this up to Don Hall the previous
year but they really didn’t make enough money to
compensate for the major effort that they put out on
this end of the business.
Lonny was getting ready to make a phone call to
the Breeders’ Association when the phone rang. Pick­
ing up the receiver, he said "Hello,” then listened in­
tently to the voice on the other end of the line. "Well,
yes, sir!” he replied. "It’s come up, but right now I
don’t know what Dr. Greely wants to do — especially
since he says that we are going to show him again
next year.” Laughing, he said, "I know it hasn’t been
done in a long time, especially with a stallion, but he
believes that BEAU GENTRY can win it again next
year. Says it will be good for the horse business.” He
listened to some more conversation and added, "Dr.
Greely is talking in terms of a thousand-dollar stud
fee and limiting his booking to twenty-five select
mares this year.” As he made doodles with his pen
on a scratch pad, Lonny leaned back and said, "I’m
not so sure . . . there are a lot of people in this busi­
ness who are beginning to believe that select breed­
ing is the only way to produce the kind of colts we
want.” He made a note on the pad and said, "I’ll call
you back just as soon as I know something, Charlie
I believe that old show mare of yours would nic
real good with BEAU. Thanks a lot for calling, and
come to see us.”
16
ing Horse business and that he was fortunate indeed
to be associated with them. He checked around the
room to see if everyone was there - Dr. and Mrs.
Greely; two of the men with Four Square Enterprises;
Dr. Pratt, his veterinarian; Don Hill; Dink Fuller;
Martin Luther . . . and, last but not least, Ralph Wild,
whom he had invited for a very specific reason. Get­
ting up, Lonny turned to Helen and said, "Sugar,
would you turn the stereo down a little so we can get
down to business?” He moved behind his chair and,
putting his foot up on the edge, said, "Fellows . . .
I’ve asked all of you to meet with us just so we can
get some direction on a program that we are thinking
about. We would really appreciate your thinking and
hope that you’ll be honest and frank about every­
thing.” Turning to Dr. Greely he said, "Doc . . . you
want to fill them in?”
After a few minutes of briefly outlining their propos­
ed program, Dr. Greely said, "Well . . . that’s about
it. We want to breed BEAU GENTRY to a few select
mares this season and bring him back in the latter
part of the summer and see if he can win the Festival
again. What do you think?” Dink Fuller was the first
one to speak up, and he said, "I think it’s pretty
stupid. You’ve got your World Champion. Why take a
chance on getting him beat?” Dr. Greely said, "Our
thinking is that if we start now on a select breeding
program while he has the title and get some good
colts next year, it won’t make any difference anyway.
He’ll still be a World Grand Champion.” He added, "I
would like to show him at least two more years and
by them we will have some good colts in the showring
as yearlings.”
_
The number-one man of Four Square Enterprises
spoke up, "Do you think we can get a thousand-dollar
stud fee for him this year?” Lonny replied that he had
already booked sixteen mares to him on this basis,
assuming of course that they decided to breed him.
The conversation continued on into the night and Lon­
ny made note of the reaction that they were getting
I from Ralph Wild. He had been active in the conversa-
January, 1969