DECEMBER 1963
Anne & Burt Daugette, Juvenile Riders of Tenn. Walking Horses
Occasionally, a person can express in his own words a story that needs no editing. This is the case of 14 year old Anne Daugette. The personal story of her family and their love for the Tennessee Walking Horse was so well written, we are sending it to our readers, as she wrote it, in the first person.
“ My story would not be complete if it did not include my sister, as it was Burt who inspired my interest in riding. From her“ colorbook” days she has loved horses. She has drawn them in art class, hung pictures of them in her bedroom, and in our library at home she has a large number of books on the various breeds of horses. When we were ages 6 and 7, as a surprise for Christmas, we received a Shetland Pony which was kept near our home; and we took turns riding him with our brother, Clarence. Toby was sold and replaced by another Shetland, Walnut, which we still have with a Welsh Pony whose name is Scout.
When Burt outgrew the ponies, Daddy told her she might have the horse of her choice as a gift from her Grandmother Daugette. She chose the Tennessee Walking Horse Mare, GO BOY’ S DREAM, which our father purchased at the April, 1962 Lewisburg sale. This mare was sired by the famous MERRY GO BOY. The horse is stabled at Valley View Farms, Attalla, Alabama, which is owned by Dr. J. D. Bush. Burt’ s training began immediately under Valley View’ s trainer, Peck Stone, and she has shown GO BOY’ S DREAM two seasons. She won seven ribbons, including two Blues, during the 1962 season; ten ribbons during this season which included four Blue Ribbons; and she placed sixth at the Celebration this year. She is now also training with an 18-month old filly, GO BOY’ S MELODY MAID, which was purchased for her at Shelbyville this
fall.
My Walking Pony Gelding, four-year-old SIR HENRY’ S MAS TERPIECE, sired by SIR HENRY ALLEN, was given to me in June this year and is also a gift from Grandmother Daugette. I had shown him only five times in Alabama shows prior to the Celebration winning one Blue Ribbon and placing the other four times. Since the Celebration he placed fourth at Selma, Alabama horse show. I was very thrilled to place fourth at the Celebration in my Walking Pony Class.
Our family enjoys a great many things together, and we are all enjoying the horses. Although my twelve-year-old brother, Clarence leans a little more toward Science and the space age, he will probably want a horse of his own soon. Right now he still rides and cares for our ponys, WALNUT and SCOUT. My father, Colonel C. W. Daugette, Jr., is president of Life Insurance Company of Alabama in Gadsden and president of the First National Bank of Jacksonville, Alabama. He does not have time to follow all the shows but goes when he can, mostly on weekends. Our mother is always with us at the shows and during our training sessions she usually knits or does needle point. However, she shares our enthusiasm for the horses and probably will be riding soon.
Burt and I have both been cheer leaders at Disque Junior High and she was in the Honor Society at Disque. She is 15 and a student this year at Gadsden High School in the Tenth grade. I am now 14 and attend Disque Junior High in the Ninth grade. Clarence is in the Seventh Grade at Disque Junior High. We are members of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter where Burt and I sing in the Youth Choir and Clarence is an Acolyte.”
READER SEEKS TRAINING ADVICE
“ I would appreciate it very much if you could give me some advice. I have a 3-year-old filly that my parents and I are attempting to train. She has all natural
TEWESSEf; WALKING H I 5 ' RSE
gaits and looks good but she lost her nodding of the head while training. Are there any aids I could buy that would help the situation?”
Various people might give varied answers to this letter— and most would want to see the horse in action before offering a concrete recommendation. But as a general practice it is suggested that the loss of the nod by the Tennessee Walking Horse indicates that some error has developed in the training. Essentially, the nodding results from the various other movements of the body— ■ especially the legs— and the head nods naturally. That is one of the big differences between the breed of the Walking Horse and that of other horses.
We have been told by trainers that usually the best way to bring about the nod is to start training the horse anew, at a slower pace, and regain the body motions that bring about the nod naturally. It may be that excessive, speed has caused the nod to disappear.
Even among the best trained horses there is considerable variation in the extent of the nod. Some horses naturally have a very pronounced nod and in other instances you may find that the horse has
a relatively slight nod. But it is generally held that a Walking Horse cannot perform its true gait without the nod, and the absence of the nod indicates the absence of something else in the gait.
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How To Measure A Pony
A young reader who leaves off her name wants to know how to measure a pony. It’ s easy. Take a string and measure the animal from the“ withers to the ground” and if the string does not exceed 58 inches you have a pony— not a horse— regardless of the animal’ s age. The“ withers” of a horse are the high point above the front leg just before it joins the neck. A total stranger to a horse might have to ask a more experienced individual to designate exactly where the“ withers” are.