1965-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1965 January Voice | Page 23

auction sales for five years. In the
late fifties Mr. Wise and Jack War­
ren operated the Murray Farm and
reopened the semi-annual sales.
Finally, in 1961 Mr. Wise bought
the Murray Farm and operated the
sales until April, 1964, at which
time he sold the Murray Farm and
the auction business to Mr. S. W.
Beech and Mr. Pete Yokley.
During the period of his partner­
ship with Jack Warren, Mr. Wise
was also building a reputation as
a trainer of horses for amateurs.
Wise and Warren became famous
for the championships earned on
horses that they had schooled. As
Mr. Wise comments, “There was a
lot of times that we could have
held a good amateur show right
out of our barn.” To mention only
a few of the many champions train­
ed during this period, one would
have to list these: MIDNIGHT SE­
CRET, owned and ridden by Kay
McFarland; ROMEO’S MERRY
QUEEN, owned and ridden by Su­
sie Beasley; SUNDAY BONNET,
owned and ridden by Marcie Ann
Hopkins; FASCINATING RHY­
THM, owned and ridden by W. T.
Baynard.
Among the many fine horses
trained and shown by Mr. Wise
himself, obviously his favorite is
MIDNIGHT MERRY BIRD. After
winning the two-year-old stake at
the National Celebration, this filly
was sold and taken to California.
When she was a four-year-old, she
was returned to middle Tennessee.
At that time Mr. Wise got her back
and won all the aged mare classes
with her including the class for
aged mares at the 1954 National
Celebration.
Since selling the Murray Farm,
Mr. Wise has returned to his farm
on the Fayetteville Highway, just
outside Lewisburg. There he and
Mrs. Wise have extensively remo­
deled their home, while Mr. Wise
supervises and trains a stable of
twenty horses. Assisting him in the
training are “Bud” and “Dooney”
Thomas, two very fine young train­
ers. Mr. Wise adds, “A lot of people
thought we were going out of busi­
ness when we sold the Murray
Farm. But we’d like the public to
JANUARY, 1965
MIDNIGHT MERRY BIRD—Winner of the 1954 Age Mare Class at the Celebra­
tion with Harold Wise up. MERRY BIRD was owned by Susie Beasley and the
Murray Farm at the time.
realize that we are still in busi­
ness and that we are always train­
ing, buying, and selling. Visitors
are certainly welcome to come by
and see for themselves how our
operation is making progress.” In
other words, Harold Wise is still
very much active in all phases of
the horse business, except the auc­
tion sales.
From his vantage point of long
association with the sale of Walk­
ing Horses, Mr. Wise is in an ex­
cellent position to comment on the
future of our breed: “In my opin­
ion, 1965 is going to be a very
successful year, and I think we will
have many successful years to
come. More and more new people
are getting into the Walking
Horse business every year. We are
glad to accept them into the Walk­
ing Horse world and hope that they
find their associations and exper­
iences here as pleasant as ours
have been. I feel that the shows
are getting better . . . with more
classes and more horses than ever
before. As long as the breeders
continue to select superior animals
for their breeding stock, we can
continue to have a finer horse with
more ability year by year. And
there will always be people ready
to buy the best in Tennessee Walk­
ing Horses. Since the country is
growing at a rapid rate, there is
no reason why our business can­
not continue to grow also.”
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Wise have
two children. A son, Billy, lives in
Albertville, Alabama; and a daugh­
ter, Mrs. Thomas Sparks, lives in
Houston, Texas.
In the course of our conversa­
tion, Mr. Wise continually paid
tribute to the late Jimmy Joe Mur­
ray, a master promoter of the Ten­
nessee Walking Horse and a man
of complete integrity. It seems ap­
parent to this writer that Harold
Wise chose a very splendid man
to pattern much of his life upon,
and his success and reputation to­
day are testimony that he has fol­
lowed his example well. Certainly
the Walking Horse business is for­
tunate to have a man like Harold
Wise devote the majority of his
adult life to it.
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