1963-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1963 May Voice | Page 4

2 May , 1963

Triple Threat Traces

( Continued from page 1 ) of Carrie . Nell Eaton was by Frank out of Bessie .

We thus find Roan Allen F-38 twice in the fifth generation of Triple Threat , being on both the top side and the bottom side of his pedigree through Wilson ’ s Allen ; and also Hunter ’ s Allen F-10 on both the top side and down side . Thus Triple Threat is the great , great grandson of surely two of the greatest foundation sires in the breed — and the two major foundation sires that are evident in the pedigrees of Tennessee Walking Florse show stock .

Wilson Allen ’ s predominance as a sire of show horses is based solidly on his record of siring seven of the first eight World ’ s Grand Champions crowned at the National Celebration between 1939 and 19-16 inclusive ; six were sired by his favorite son , Midnight Sun ; one was sired by another son , Sir Maugray ; and four were sired by grandsons , Midnight Mack K ( 2 ); Midnight Major ( 1 ); and Son of Midnight ( 1 ).

Many things can happen to horses and people between now and Sept . 7 . But if history repeats — and Triple Threat gets the floral horseshoe placed around his neck after the big stakelie will be doing what his forebears have done on the same spot in years gone by .

New Walker — Emphasis Show In Copper Basin

Another brand new show in Tennessee featuring the Walking Horse is the First Annual Copper Basin Horse Show scheduled at 7:30 p . m . on May 31 at the Copper Basin High School football field , located midway between Ducktown and Copperhill on Tennessee State Highway 68 .

It is sponsored by the Copper Basin Riding Club , Dr . William R . Lee , president , with Sue Mitchell , chairman , Copper Basin Horse Show . Entries should be filed with Miss Mitchell , fudge will be Fred Turner , son of J . Glenn Turner , Dallas , Tex . and Circle T . Ranch . Last year Fred won the Reserve Amateur Championship of the World on his brilliant Shadow ' s Red Ace with a superb ride — becoming the youngest male in National Celebration history to win reserve honors in this event at Shelbyville , Tenn .

Tall Stranger With A Famous Name-Leads

Bv ALETHA WIEHL 5211 East Sunset Drive Yakima , Wash .

A visitor came to our Valley of the Yakima ( Washington State ) a few years ago . He was a man who loved horses , had a reputation as a rider , had spent his life working and playing with them . We had some exceptionally good Quarter Horses in the vicinity — so , thinking he would be interested , we offered to show him stock on various ranches .

To our surprise , a shadow crossed his face and he replied :

“ Thanks for the thought , but the only horse I can ride these days is about so wide , and then it ' s not comfortable ."

And he pointed to the small round poles of a nearby corral . ( It seems he ’ d been injured while skiing some time before and the injury interfered with his comfort in riding .)

" And it ’ s tough when you once did something well , and liked it so much ", the visitor continued .

Then his face brightened as if a light bad turned on inside . He sort of chuckled as he said , ( almost as if we were no longer talking about horses at all , but some sort of Super animal ): " Have you ever ridden a Tennessee Walking Horse ?”

Hiding our amazement , as best we could , for this man bore the stamp of a Westerner , we stammered we had not .

Delightedly , he proceeded to describe how much fun he had riding a friend ’ s Walker .

" Why you just sit there like this , and he goes like this , and you don ' t move at all , but you get there like that !”

Although there were people with cameras around , unfortunately the demonstration of just how a Walker walks and gets there “ like that " ( by vigorous , agile movement of the body from hips down ) and how the rider “ just sits " ( by keeping upper part of the body perfectly still while the lower gyrations were going on ) was not photographed for posterity .

Academy Award Enthusiasm

It wasn ’ t the type of performance that qualifies one for an Academy Award , but the enthusiasm that tvent

Big Smile , And A Wiehls To Walkers into it was enough to sell us on the idea of trying a Walker .

For this tall American knew our country , he knew horses , and one instinctively respected his judgment and sense of values .

So we tried the Tennessee Walking Horse , and he “ walked ” right into our pasture and our hearts . We are experiencing some wonderful days with the ultimate in pleasure riding .

Thanks , Gary Cooper , for opening the barn door !

# * *

( Editor ' s Note — It was at 11 p . m . on a Sunday night when we read the above from the pen of Aletha Wiehl . We immediately woke up from a near sleep , bombarded her with a 2-page letter and threatened to charge her the price of two sleeping pills she would force us to take to get into a snooze .

( Aletha will continue to write special stories for the Voice — anything she thinks our Friends will enjoy . She and her husband , Lloyd , met Gary Cooper when the movie star was in Yakima for filming of " The Hanging Tree .” Ten years ago the Wiehls owned the Northwest Champion 5- gaited mare , and Aletha wrote articles for Horse World , and Tanbark and Turf magazine . She also covered shows for J . R . Ransom ’ s magazine .

A Modest (?) Quotation

( In her letter to us she adds the following that we modestly (?) print en toto : “ In our search for Walkers suitable for our needs we have been astonished to find so many recent enthusiasts , all eager to learn more about the present , past and future of the breed . The Biography of the Tennessee Walking Horse by Ben A . Green is our horse bible and shows signs of constant thumbing and out-and-out devouring . And the Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse is like a ray of light in the darkness to those of us hungry for news . We look forward to the next issue . Do keep up the good work . And let us help if you feel we can ."

( That ' s what Aletha Wield said and she cost us some hours of our lile — thrilling hours . We bet that girl adds months to our life to replace those hours of sleep lost . BAG ).