1962-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1962 April Voice | Page 3

Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse
VOICE
of the
Tennessee Walking Horse
B en A. G reen .................... Publisher-Editor
M rs . B en A. G reen ........................Secretary
OFFICE—SHELBYVILLE, TENN.
(This monthly magazine is dedicated to the welfare
of the Tennessee Walking Horse breed for show and
pleasure.)
OUR AIM—To maintain a permanent publication
that will merit the full support of all who love
the Tennessee Walking Horse.
Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse is owned
by Ben A. Green and Mrs. Ben A. Green, Shclby-
ville, Tenn-, and its editorial contents can be used
for re-publication by any person or firm provided
proper credit is given and the magazine is correctly
quoted.
Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse is pub­
lished monthly at II10 South Brittain St., Shclby-
villc, Tenn.
Send all subscription payments and advertising
payments to Ben A. Green, Shclbyville, Tenn.
Subscription Price: $4 per year; single copy
50 cents.
Why Not Pleasure Colts?
What can Tennessee Walking
Horse people do about the pleasure
horse—and take advantage of the Sub­
urban Pleasure Horse Market?
This question is important to our
people, and important to the growth
of the Tennessee Walking Horse
breed. It presents both a problem and
a vast opportunity.
That's why Issue No. 1 of this
magazine printed in lull the Wall
Street Journal's Page 1 report on the
Pleasure Horse Boom. That's why we
have given much thought to this prob­
lem-opportunity.
One problem is the current defi­
nition ol a ''pleasure horse” in the
Tennessee Walking Plorse breed. Most
people seem to look upon this type
of mount as a mature horse from
four to six years old, thoroughly
trained to meet all conditions, with
developed gaits, and ready to sell for
about $500 to $1,000.
This is a mighty small amount of
money when compared to the funds
already spent upon such an animal.
From what we have learned by talk­
ing with breeders, trainers and
others—the well bred, trained, regis­
tered horse of this breed has from
$2,000 to S3,000 invested in it at such
an age, and this is a minimum figure.
Dr. M. E. Ensminger, chairman of
Lite Dept, of Animal Sciences at Wash­
ington State University in Pullman,
Wash., made a questionnaire survey
of practices and problems of horse­
men in three breeds, including the
Thoroughbred, the Standardbreed
and the Quarter Horse. One perti­
nent question was about costs—includ­
ing all costs.
1
He found it cost an average §2,309
to raise a Quarter Horse to 2 years of
age. The two other breeds were
higher.
One cost factor he mentioned was
that it takes an average of two mares
to produce one foal per year—as many
mares are barren and other things de­
velop to prevent birth of a foal. Else­
where he comments that breeding
should be done approximately all
year, rather than confined to a few
months, and that the custom of ob­
serving a January 1 birthday for all
horses is a depressing factor insofar
as production is concerned. (Several
efforts have been made to shift that
date to April 1 or July 1 but it be­
came involved in too many problems
because of the international nature of
horseracing. To our mind, the fic­
ticious January 1 birth dale should be
entirely disregarded in pleasure horse
breeding.)
Cost S2,500 to 83,000
No survey of Tennessee Walking
Horse breeders is available. But a
spot check convinces us that the aver­
age well bred, registered Tennessee
Walker kept by a breeder to age four
to six years has certainly cost its
owner a minimum of $2,500 to $3,-
000—and often much more. So he
takes a big loss on every animal sold
at what is the normal pleasure horse
price for the breed nowadays.
The present system seems to oper­
ate like a major league baseball club.
The club gathers a squad of rookies,
tries them out, and figures that if a
few suitable players are developed the
expenses required by the others are
discounted.
It is apparent to all that the Ten­
nessee Walking Plorse cannot possibly
reach the mass pleasure horse market
in quantity by such an operation.
However, the Editor believes we
can develop a plan to meet the pleas­
ure horse boom opportunity if we
change our definition of the pleasure
horse.
Why not take to the market Ten­
nessee Walking Colts that are trained
to halter, sell them to the parents of
children who want them? If these
"horse hungry” children do not get
our good Tennessee Walking Colts
they will get some other kind and be­
come wedded to another breed. That
is the way children get acquainted
with breeds, be they horses, dogs, rab­
bits, cats or any other pets.
The pleasure horse boom, accord­
ing to the Wall Street Journal, is tied
to the child’s desire for the horse—
and to the fact that parents want to
provide the children with pets they
want. The horse has become very
popular in the child mind, helped
somewhat by the horse operas on tele­
vision.
Breed For Pleasure Market
The Editor proposes that we start
breeding pleasure horses to meet this
demand. We can plan to sell them as
colts at the age of 10, 12, 14, to 16
months old—that have been trained
to halter so they are manageable and
the children can take them over as
their own. A child of 10 to 12 years
old is beginning to grow faster, as a
rule, but the colt within one more
year can develop into a horse as far
as size is concerned.
If the colt is purchased at age 10 to
15 months, it gives die child and the
horse a chance to get used to each
other. From what I have been told,
it would be better to sell mares and
geldings to this market—rather than
to pass on a horse colt that would
tend to become restive and harder to
manage. That is just the nature of
the horse colt.
We believe our breed associations
and groups of breeders could do a
great service by getting together a
score of Tennessee Walking Colts and
taking them to a given area for a
"colt auction” to break into the pleas­
ure market. Friends of the breed in
the given area would be glad to help.
Mass transportation of die animals
to the neighborhoods would cut de­
livery costs to a minimum. We can­
not expect folks to travel long dis­
tances, search around and buy colts
individually. But we can certainly
take the animals to the prospective
buyers. And buyers can be provided
with some spoken and written infor­
mation to give the children advice on
care and training of the horse for
pleasure riding.
If this can be done, the Tennessee
Walking Horse can become a prime
favorite in the pleasure horse market.
It is better built by nature for pleas­
ure riding than is any other breed.
And it’s best for children.
The Tennessee Walking Horse has
developed an enormous popularity as
a show animal. And its value for such
a purpose has risen higher and
higher.
It must become more appreciated in
the minds of people as a pleasure
animal. The prospective buyers must
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