HARLEY MORGAN ' S
STIRRUP RESTAURANT o o o
12 August, 1962
Papa, Five Children Ride But Mama Tells How
Papa and Lhe five children ride but Mama runs the show at the N. C. Denton’ s Blue Comet Farm near Anniston, Ala.
That ' s the way Dr. N. C. Denton put it in telling the Voice Editor abouL how daughter Ann coaxed him into getting her a riding horse five years ago. Ann is a sophomore in college( Jacksonville State College).
Now the Demons have a well-filled 15-stall barn, 15 other head in pasture, two stallions in service, and the whole family rides except Mrs. Denton who coaches one and all from the sidelines. The Doctor says Mrs. Denton is a great judge of horsemanship, knows horses with rare instinct and tells the whole family what to do and when.
Dr. Denton, an obstetrician, has found that horseback riding is great medicine, too. Good for anything from headache to heartache it seems. He agrees with a Voice subscriber who recently said horseback riding beats aspirin for that tired, headachy feeling.
Pictured in this magazine are Carter( Buddy) Denton, age 13, on El Capitan— actually registered as Midnight Boy E., a gelding age 8; and Mary Denton, 16, on Denton’ s Diamond Lil, registered as D. Diamond Lil.
Both youngsters have won many blue ribbons in Alabama and Georgia horse shows.
Ann, the oldest daughter, has not been riding in competition this season due to other activities.
At the Celebration Carter and Mary will ride their favorites, Dr. Denton will show on Go Boy ' s Handshaker, 4-year-old stallion, and 11-year-old Cynthia( Cissy) Denton will ride Sunny Jim. A fourth competitor for the family will be Mike Denton, age 8, who has been competing this year on Sunni ' Jim also. Cissy has won many ribbons this year. Sunny Jim is a gelding, 11 years old.
Recently at Cedartown, Ga., the Demons won two blues with D. Diamond Lil, Mary taking a juvenile class and her Daddy winning in the mare class.
The Blue Comet Farm is located 4 miles east of Anniston on U. S. Hhigway 76— the post office address being- 15 Mark Woods Road. Young Bethel( Hank) Mayo of Boaz is trainer. The Dentons will stand Go Boy’ s Handshaker to a few select mares in
1963, also have in service Black Idol Again, by Son of Midnight.
The farm is named for Blue Comet, a 13-year-old mare who was“ retired” from showing at the Anniston horse show last year at a formal ceremony.
An accident led to the death of a farm favorite, 24-year-old Secret Love, by Wilson’ s Allen. The mare ran into a watering trough and broke a leg. She was due to foal within about two weeks. Dr. Denton gave the mare an anaesthetic— then conducted a Caesarian section in an effort to save the foal, before putting the mare permanently to sleep. This last resort failed as the foal did not live.
The doctor says everyone has great life on the 40-acre farm. It’ s within a few minutes ride of home and his wife, the former Miss Jo Piebiak, runs the place. Everybody’ s happy, including Lhe Tennessee Walking Horses who are loved and treated like best friends by " Mama Jo” and all the brood.
HARLEY MORGAN ' S
STIRRUP RESTAURANT o o o
Where There Are 32 Horse Pictures On The Wall
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For Breakfast Luncheon, Dinner '/ O '/
Service From 5 A. M. To 8 P. M. Daily
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636 N. Main St., Shelbyville, Tenn.
Jan Wright
( Continued from Page 5)
Jan swims like a trout in the pool in the Wright back yard, and plays on the piano given to her as a Christmas present by her father, Joe Wright. Her mother, Helen Crawford Wright, born at Center— 32 miles from Nacogdoches— maintains one of the most beautiful residential flower gardens in the Lone Star State.
Jan’ s dad, who will ride Sun’ s Celebration in the Shelbyville Celebration, is vice-president of the huge Texas Farm Products Co., one of the nation’ s largest independent feed and fertilizer manufacturing firms. Joe Wright superintends production at two giant plants, distribution through 3,500 mercantile outlets, transportation through 200 trucks and autos. He also has 300 registered Polled Herefords on the range and 30 Tennessee Walking Horses at the Lone Star Stables.
Joe was for two years chairman of the 23-year-old Nacogdoches Horse Show— a great 3-night show in a town of 15,000 population.
Both Daddy Joe and Mother Helen are wrapped up in their only child— Little Queen ] an— who has been virtually adopted in the minds of all the many thousands who have cheered her wins since she began to ride five seasons ago. Many predict that is the way it will be at the Celebration.
Loves To Groom A Horse
This letter is from a lovely person, you can tell by the tone. She is Ruth S.( Mrs. A. D.) Cluiss, Rt. 2, Box 246-E, Corpus Christi, Texas. Ordering a training book, she says:“ I hope the sections on grooming will be in gr eat detail because there are many of us who have never seen the mane braided. I particularly enjoy this part of the work as the horses are so infinitely patient— even our colts— when they are getting attention. We thoroughly enjoyed the Biography and look forward to each issue of the Voice. We wish you and Mrs. Green many years of successful publishing.( Ruth, many thanks for everything. You express the love for the horse in ways that the horse understands. I am told a horse cannot understand words— except by repetition— but he or she can understand loving care from the start. BAG.)