1965-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1965 July Voice | Page 4

THE CROWDER FAMILY - ANITA, TOMMY (16 months old),
and CHARLES Crowder.
GREENBACK MONEYTREE - DUDE CROWDER up. Just one
of the many fine Walking Horses trained and shown by this
young trainer.
GENERAL INTEREST IN HORSES
LEADS TO PROFESSIONAL CAREER FOR
"DUDE”CROWDER
In our continued effort to bring the reader an inside
view of the professional trainers in our growing Walking
Horse industry, we travel throughout the country talk­
ing with veteran trainers as well as the new young
trainers. The stories that these young men tell are
not as varied in terms of years or perhaps as interest­
ing as those of the older trainers, for their years in
the saddle are shorter. However, if you look in the show
rings of today you will see more and more of these
young men riding through the gate. We have wondered
what is drawing these men from other professions into
the Walking Horse business, so we found such a man,
CHARLES CROWDER, JR., better known as DUDE,
and asked him.
DUDE was bom in Harriraan, Tennessee in 1942,
but spent most of his younger years in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee. When he first became interested in horses
he became a member of the East Tennessee Riding
Club and, at eleven years of age, he began showing
a black road pony. Soon his interest changed to Walk­
ing Horses and he and his father traded this pony for
a yearling bay colt, Merry Boy’s Potentate. DUDE
showed this colt from the time it was a two-year-old
until, at the age of five, it was bought by JOHN VIV­
IAN and ROBERT POST in Dallas, Pennsylvania.
This young trainer’s first actual job with horses was
with the Riding Club, working after school. Soon after
graduating from high school in Oak Ridge, DUDE be­
gan working with WINK GROOVER in Etowah, Ten­
nessee. Although DUDE only stayed at Wink’s stable
for one year, he tells us that Wink has been a friend
through the years, helping him in many ways. Another
helping hand has come from SAM PASCHAL, a veteran
trainer who has assisted many young men get a good
start in the right direction.
f Continued on page 32)
4
ONE OF THE BEST - Trainer DUDE CROWDER and Mr. J. B.
SAPP line up with one of their several outstanding two-year-
olds.
PROFESSIONALS
^
on
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By Gloria L. Spencer
VOICE of the Tennessee Walking Horse