third annual
ROSSVILLE KIWANIS CLUB HORSE SHOW BIG SUCCCESS
Proves Horse Shows Can Be Important Part Of Community Activity
It has been said that the Horse Show is the best method that a local civic club can use to easily raise funds for a civic project . Perhaps this is true . But , the Horse Show can also provide aspects of community effort that add spirit and unity to the local citizenry . Rossville , Georgia is a small , basically industrial community located just across the state line from Chattanooga , Tennessee . Some few years ago the city faced an almost unsurmountable problem of unemployment due to the shut-down of the towns largest industrial facility . Over 2,000 local people were put out of work and the local payroll loss amounted to over 6,000,000 dollars annually . In the face of a seemingly disastrous situation , the local businessmen , civic clubs and other interested parties banded together to create new business and new prosperity for the community . At the present , just 3 years after the situation appeared almost hopeless , the city of Rossville is thriving once again with ten new industries and over 1200 newly created jobs .
What has all this got to do with a Horse Show ? The new spirit of Rossville was recently exhibited when the local Kiwanis Club put on a most successful Horse Show . The entire event was a great success , including the full cooperation of “ ol man weather .” Twenty eight of the thirty members of the club worked arduously on the project . For the past three years , this same organization has tried to put on a successful show and has twice been thwarted by extremely bad weather .
The Horse Show management carefully planned the show for several months . All steps ware taken to provide the best facilities , the best prize money possible and
ROSSVILLE KIWANIS CLUB HORSE SHOW CHALLENGE TROPHY — Mr . Billy Joe Robinson , President of the Club and Chairman of the show is pictured with C . Bruce Spencer , President of the VOICE Publishing Company , which donated the trophy in memory of Grady D . Swope , Chattanooga Walking Horse enthusiast who died earlier this year . The trophy was won in the Championship Stake Class by MYSTERIOUS SHADOW , owned by Mrs . Joe Baugh of Nashville , with Harold Kennedy up , and will have to be won three times by horses owned by a single owner to maintain permanent possession .
the finest ribbons and trophies available . The response from exhibitors was good and local attendance was at capacity . In short , they had a very successful show , and have an estimated three thousand dollars profit with which to finance several club projects . Dr . E . B . Quinton , local amateur exhibitor and past president of the club is the man responsible for promoting local interest in a horse show . His past efforts were rewarded by the success of the 1964 show .
Extra attraction of the Rossville Show was the presentation of the Grady D . Swope Memorial Challenge Trophy in the Championship Stake Class . This beautiful trophy of Silver and Mahogany was presented by the VOICE Publishing Company in honor of a personal friend who is considered by many to have been responsible for the renewed interest in the Tennessee Walking Horse in the greater Tennessee Valley area . Initial winner was MYSTERIOUS SHADOW , owned by Mrs . Joe Baugh of Nashville , Tennessee and ridden by Harold Kennedy of Lewisburg ,
Tennessee . The trophy must be won three times by a horse owned by the same person in order to maintain permanent possession . It does not have to be won by the same horse or the same rider , however .
Approximately one hundred horses participated in the third annual Rossville Kiwanis Horse Show and the big attraction was prize money . After surveying the downfall of several supposedly well established shows because entry fees were about 50 % of the first place prize money , the management of the Rossville Show decided to take the sure route and offer the kind of prize money that would draw the exhibitors . It worked and everyone including the Kiwanis Club was happy . We sincerely hope that other shows will follow the example of the Rossville Show and go all out to make it attractive for the exhibitors . After-all . . . they make the show . Good luck next year !
Complete results of the show reported in the Horse Show Results column elsewhere in this issue .
32 VOICE of The Tennessee Walking Horse