1966-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1966 June Voice | Page 26

running
Lonny alm0st
When they .alled
cane for the
horse.
Tiger walk,
immediately
jump.
fell off the back o ^at the crowd really liked. As he
ed into a Dlg.
{or the second time, he could hear
rounded the
right. "Go get 'em, Lonny” . . ,
the crowd to n
„
> ‘'Watch that bay stud go!”
-Turn him °n’ “°ywas called, and then the reverse.
The flat foot warn
something strange. Two other
With this homy . ht up next to him.
trainers Pul\e,d„ ?g thought. Still he didn’t pay too
"That’s odd,
was WOrking fine and was
much attention to • » he had before. Lonny could
really feeling hett
^ neared the entrance gate
feel the crowd an i
^ big man with the cigai
in the turn he no
said, -Don’t let 'em box you
As he went by, m
rail and show your horse.”
M1%T
QUEST
by Charles Barry Sanderson
The preliminary7 workout fc)r the Two-Year-Old Class
was over and they were lined up. Lonny was feeling
pretty good about the show his horse was making.
He was just hoping that he could get into the final
workout and he would be satisfied. As the judge came
to Tiger Bay, Little Joe, who was groomipg for Lonny,
looked at him and said, "Ain’t he a good 'un, yer
honor?” Lonny punched him in the ribs as he noticed
a bit of applause for his horse from the crowd. He
turned around to face the grandstand and, for the
first time, noticed that the stands were packed. "Lit­
tle Joe,” he said, "there isn’t any such thing as a
small one-night show any more.”
All riders were instructed to remount. Lonny got
back on as Little Joe gave their horse a final swipe
with the towel. "Thanks, Joe. You had better go get
Mrs. Larrimore’s mare ready now,” he said. The an­
nouncer stated that nine horses were to pull in on
the grass As he called out the numbers, Lonny al­
most fell off his horse when he heard "NUMBER
FOURTEEN.” That was his number! He looked around
on the grass and noted that all but one of the others
pulled in were big-time trainers. "Hello, Lonny,” said
a rider to his left. "I’m Roger Milton from Lundsburg.”
Lonny was pleased that he had at least been recog­
nized. "Oh, I know you,” he said. "How is your Three-
Year-Old Champion working?” "Pretty good,” was the
reply. "We’ll see tonight. I’m going to show him in
the stake.”
Lonny small-talked his way through the long wait
for the workout. When the horses working were dis­
missed, Lonny was pleased. They were tying six places
and he might at least get a ribbon and his entry fee
back. "Horses on the grass take the rail to your
left,” said the announcer, and Lonny took the short­
est route to the rail. He noticed that the other train­
ers had spread out. avoiding too close contact. He
could feel that something was wrong with his horse
the minute they went to work. "I knew it . . .” he
said to himself. "This little devil is going to blow up.
He’s never worked this way before and he thought
it was all over.” Much to Lonny’s surprise, however,
Tiger Bay fell in next to the rail and took on motion
and rhythm that Lonny really didn’t know he had.
26
As they neared the straightaway, the announcer
called for the running walk, and the crowd came to
their feet. Lonny noticed that one rider was trying
to stay between him and the judge, so he did the
only thing he could do: he called for more speed.
As he put the spurs to Tiger’s ribs, he felt some­
thing he had never felt before — the surge of a real
big-time show horse. Tiger swelled up into a giant
and pulled out from the other horses, shaking his
head and throwing his front end away.
Lonny could feel his horse lean as they rounded
the second turn, gaining every step on the other
horses in front of him. The crowd was yelling so loud
that he barely heard the announcer call for the flat
foot walk.
A crowd gathered at the lower end of the field to
see the little bay two-year-old stud that had brought
the house down. "Let’s see that Blue Ribbon, Lon­
ny,” said a stranger. "Just keep the ribbons and
give him more money,” said another, and everybody
laughed. Helen had jumped around Lonny’s neck as
he dismounted and planted a kiss on him. She was
a bit upset when Mrs. Larrimore and Mrs. Larson
joined in the congratulations. She thought to herself,
"One blue ribbon is enough, if that goes with it!’
But she was genuinely proud of her Lonny Barnes.
The big man, still chewing his cigar, called Lonny
over to side of the trailer. "Lonny, I’ve been watch­
ing that horse of yours. He is top show horse mater­
ial. Do you think those folks would part with him?”
Lonny smiled. "I guess they would,” he admitted,
"if the price was right.” The big man rared back
and said, "Do you think they would take twelve.
Huh! Twelve? Well, I don’t know,” Lonny said. The
big man added, "I mean twelve thousand,” moving
his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other.
Lonny was obviously shaken. He had never dealt
with horses in that bracket before. "Teh you what,
onny. You talk it over with them tonight and ca
me tomorrow.” He gave Lonny a card and melted
into the crowd.
it was early the next morning before they got back
o e barn. They had stopped on the road at a true
stop for breakfast about 1 AM and Lonny had talked
VOICE of the Tennes
iking Horse