1962-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1962 March Voice | Page 7

Voice of the Tennessee Wolking Horse Wqll Street Journql Sees Pleqsure Horse Boom We Accept This (Editor's Note-The follorsing alticle ap- peared in The \fall Street Journal entilely on Page I in the Jan. 24. 1962 issue. It is said to be unprecedented fol The Journal to devote such Page 1 space to a recreational horse storr'. It proles The Journal confidently predicts a trelnendous "pleasure horse boom." 'fhis article is leprinted in full bv this maga- zine rsith the express consent of the Journal's Executive Editor'. B-{G.) HOPALO\G SUBURBANITE SPURS THE POPULARITY OF HORSE OWNERSHIP Harness Firn Sales Double Since 1958; Atlanta Sufiers -\ Shortage Of Blacksmiths BY PETER VANDERWICKEN Staff Reporter ol The Wall Street Journal \'Vhen neighbors of the F. P. l{uders in Akron, Ohio, look to see what the five Ryder chiidren are up to these days, they often find them galloping about thc back lot on trvo Western ponies^ The same scene is not uncommon in the suburbs and outlying neighborhoods of Atlanta, Omaha or New York City. Horseback riding, a sport once largely limited to the wealthy or to rural folks, is making a comeback among the families of Suburbia, r.t'ho nften orvn their own horses and stable them in places like converted garages or backyard barns. Some riding instructors credit the trend to the influence o[ television lVestcrns, a desire to be "one up" on thc neighbors, and the natural attraction a horse has for many people. Some 288,000 suburban families in the U. S. now own horses, estimates Dr. M. E. Ensminger, chairman of the Dept. of Anirnal Science at \'t'Iashington State University in Pullman, Wash. He figures pleasure horses now total million, about 300,000 more t.han in