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 (Continued on Page 5)