1964-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1964 December Voice | Page 12

BAILEY-MONTGOMERY
STABLES
Jack Montgomery is one fellow
who always has time to spend with
a visitor to his stable. When we
arrived, he was busy with Bruce
and Geneva Fletcher of Elletts-
ville, Indiana, a couple who had
come to Middle Tennessee looking
for some top Walking Horse stock.
They had spent several days in
Shelbyville visiting the various
barns, just looking at young horses.
We too, enjoyed their company!
A relatively new look is evident
at Bailey-Montgomery this year.
Jack’s right hand men, Ferrell
Shields and Virgil Darnell, are
busy working horses and right
ther with them is Jack himself,
who has decided to spend more
time in the saddle working horses.
Jack admits that he has not been
too active with his riding the past
several years, but is intent on com­
ing up with some top stock next
year. There is no doubt about it!
Jack can ride with the best of
them. He probably got the bug
after working with Kathy Bailey’s
MIGHTY SUNBEAM this year. He
has been working this top amateur
mare all season and has done a
good job with her.
At present, they are getting
about ten SHADOW and PIDD-
LEY colts under saddle, and from
the looks of things, have their
hands full of top stock. We saw
Ferrell ride several and they
looked good for this time of year.
We saw Jack work a roan stud
colt that was held out this year
because of an injury. He will be a
Junior horse next year and even
though he hasn’t been in the show
ring yet, shows the aire and go of
an experienced horse.
We briefly discussed the overall
results of the first annual BAILEY-
MONTGOMERY sale of SHADOW
& PIDDLEY colts that was held
during the Celebration in Sep­
tember. They were satisfied with
the sale and were pleased at the
prices gotten on most of the horses
put up for sale. Tops was a SHAD­
OW filly that sold for $4,500. There
was a total of thirty five yearling
colts sold with the top PIDDLEY
colt bringing $2,150. Auctioneer
Eddie Bryant did a good job of
12
keeping things moving and pro­
duced an excellent one-day sale.
Next year should see more horses
and increased interest in this
coming sale.
RAY BECKLER STABLES
On a hunch, we took a jaunt
over to Ray Beckler’s Stables,
which is just about a “country
mile” down the road from Bailey-
Montgomery. We had heard that
trainer Don Bell was no longer
located there and decided to check
on this rumor. Johnny Beckler
came up just as we were leaving
and opened up for us. He con­
firmed what we heard and said
that they were going to concen­
trate on pleasure horses and
standing SHADOW’S REFLEC­
TION and that Mr. Bell was get­
ting set up at another location.
There were three horses in the
stable at that time, including
JOHNNY MIDNIGHT, which we
understood was to go with Don
Bell as soon as he was situated.
Johnny told us that the family
was planning a trip to California
over the Christmas holidays to
visit his brother Bryan. We will
check with Beckler Stables again
as soon as they are set up again.
WRIGHT FAMILY OF
SHARPSBURG, KENTUCKY,
UPHOLDS TRADITIONAL
HORSE INTEREST ON
FAMILY FARM
The Albert E. Wright family of
Sharpsburg, Kentucky, is typical
of the many families across the
country whose horse activities are
centered around the Juvenile Ex­
hibitors of the clan. Outstanding
in this field is Eleanor Wright, who
has been showing for several years.
This popular young walking
horse exhibitor started showing
ponies and horses at the very
young age of five and one half
years of age. By the time she was
eight she had won her first blue
in open competition on a walking
pony named SAMSON. This pony
was a faithful show mount for
children and is the sire of many
walking ponies now being shown
in the Central Kentucky area. She
is said to have squealed on receiv­
ing her first blue ribbon ”Gee
I’m glad brother Eddie is showing
GO BOY’S ECHO in Harrisburg.”
This comment reflected the per­
sonal pride of a very young but
enthusiastic horse lover who was
as interested in the activity of her
brother and his pony as she was in
her own. GO BOY’S ECHO is sev­
enteen years old now and the en­
tire Wright family is very proud of
him. He has won hundreds of blues
throughout the years and this year
was reserve to Champion SIR
HENRY’S ECHO at Glasgow, Ken­
tucky, in the Walking Pony Class.
He brought home the blue from
Harrisburg and Richmond in the
same class. Also, in a class of fif­
teen top walking ponies in the Ken­
tucky State Fair Show he tied
third.
My two brothers, Eddie and Jim,
and I live on a large farm just
outside Sharpsburg, Kentucky, in
an old brick home built by our
great, great grandfather. We have
enjoyed riding since we were
taught in the front yard at about
three years of age. By the time
we were five and six years old we
were helping our father bring in
the brood mares in the spring and
help in other ways around the
farm.
Our favorite pastime at the
present is to ride over the farm and
watch our brood mares and their
colts playing by their side. This
year there were thirty colts to be
weaned. Our brood mare band in­
cludes such blood lines as OLD
MERRY BOY, LAST CHANCE,
MERRY MAKER, MIDNIGHT
SUN, MERRY GO BOY,