By Betty Bledsoe 9144 Macon Ra., Cordova, Tenn.
In this part of the country, we divide our time between passive activities in the winter and active ones in the summer. As a long, long winter draws to a close, we reflect on the reading, writing, and watching that has filled our days since autumn. We read past issues of the VOICE and the many textbooks we use in teaching horsemanship, we write horse stories and articles and letters to our“ horsey” friends, we watch the show bloom develop under long and patient training of the colts. And now we know what our winter was all about. The plans of men are made and the books are laid to rest, the early morning activity at the stables increases in tempo, the young potential riders stand starry-eyed at the paddock, the trainers, the teachers, the handlers feel a quickening of the heartbeat as Spring unfolds its promise— and we look to the coming summer.
Though experience tells us that for those of us who are professionals in this business, the hours will be long and the miles on the highways many, such is the nature of our business that we are but a shade less awestruck than our novices. And all because among God’ s creatures two have developed a rapport that defies description, only in the ken of those blessed with this association lies the invisible tie that binds mankind to the horse.
As though reflections were the order of the day. we received one last extension on our sedentary
WILL THE MID SOUTH
please park in
season by having some long overdue knee-surgery resulting from, you guessed it, a riding accident some years ago. Being crutchbound has some compensations we have found, leaving long days to fill with telephone chats.
We caught up on the Idlehour Stable news from Covington this week via a nice Southern Bell visit with Ann Mohon. Ann’ s new chestnut gelding has a name that should delight the young set. Seems that he had a little trouble in the mane department and was promptly dubbed GO BOY’ S BEATLE. Knowing Ann, this Beatle could create excitement second only to the ones from Liverpool. And then, of course, the personable Mrs. Mohon will also show her bay mare, SUNDUST’ S CHRIST MAS BELLE.
Idlehour’ s trainer, Pap Crutcher, will be a power to contend with in the two-year-old classes with Mr. Porter Norman’ s chestnut filly, SHADOW’ S PRIMROSE. The stable stallion, LITTLE MERRY BOY, is creating quite a stir with his beautiful colts, some of which are bound to be making news for this son of MERRY BOY in coming years. It is always a delight in the Mid-South Circle when one of its own makes a splash in new territory. A case in point is SUN’ S
BLUE SHADOW, Mid-South Amateur Champion, recently sold by the Mohons to A. W. Krosche of San Antonio, Texas. He was a real sensation in early April at the San Antonio Show.
We haven’ t had the opportunity of visiting the stable of young Ted Beare of Rutherford, but we hear that Ted has some mighty fine young horses, so we’ re looking forward to a jaunt in that direction very soon.
The annual Strawberry Festival in early May at Humboldt, Tennessee, has for years been the“ unofficial opener” for the local TWH exhibitors. In the stable vernacular, this is the show where“ everybody goes to see what everybody else has got.”
Now along comes Capt. Bob Wood of Navy Millington, with their Lazy Anchor Ranch show slated for April 25. If our expectations are correct, and the usual Navy excellence prevails, this could well become an early“ must '' for anxious stables who can’ t wait to prove they’ ve got the greatest in the Mid-South. Our own family’ s juvenile eqestrienne, whose memory for names is often better than her parent’ s, reminded us of the young lady whose style and competence caught our fancy at the Celebration. She was Capt. Wood’ s daughter, Wendy Lynn and we will look forward to seeing her again.
In the interim white time, nature, and a bit of therapy combine to make us ambulatory once more, we point a plea in the direction of our Mid-South readers. Please park in long enough to drop us a line about your horses. If they are Tennessee Walking Horses, they’ ve just got to be great.
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36 VOICE of The Tennessee Walking Horse