Last summer we look a short cut through Searcy, Arkansas, on our way to the Heart of American Walking Horse Association meeting in Clinton, Missouri. This was a short cut that was about 150 miles out of the way but it proved to be quite interesting and successful from a lot of standpoints. We thought that while we were in Searcy, we might as well stop by and sec Joe and Nell Webb. This was an afterthought, you understand.
It was here that we met a gentleman by the name of“ Verd” Walker from Concord. California, who has horses in training at the Joe Webb Stables. Our acquaintance with Mr. Walker on this trip was short and pleasant and we had only a brief while to discuss his Walking Horse activities. We received an open invitation to visit with him any time we were in California, and to sec some of his Tennessee W ' alking Horses.
It was our distinct pleasure to make a trip recently to California and while there we took advantage of our“ open” invitation to visit with Verd Walker and his lovely wife Virginia. The highlight of our trip was a tour of San Francisco, but the most interesting phase of our visit was discussing the background of Mr. Walker and his Tennessee Walking Horses.
“ You mean to say. Verd”. I asked with much surprise,“ that you have been in the Walking Horse business since 1939 and you have never seen the Celebration?”. This startling fact led to the following story.
VERD WALKER...
WESTERN PIONEER OF THE
WALKING HORSE BREED
For a man who is about as far removed from Middle Tennessee as you can get and still be in the Continental U. S. A.,“ Verd’ Walker certainly has some close ties with the“ Cradle of the Walking Horse business”. In 1939, young Mr. Walker was working for the J. C. Penney Company in Denver, Colorado. There was another man also working there by the name of W. D.“ Bill” Richards. The J. C. Penney Company was widespread at the time and at a general meeting in Denver they happened to strike up a friendship with a Mr. Matt Mansfield, representing the Penney Company in Tucson. Arizona. Mr. Mansfield was from Pulaski, Tennessee, and eventually the conversation turned to horses and naturally he brought up the Tennessee W ' alking Horse.
From this time on, Verd Walker and Bill Richards were“ dedicated” Tennessee Walking Horse fans and seized the opportunity to meet with Matt every year at the Denver Livestock Show and talk Walking Horses. It was here that they purchased their first Tennessee Walking Horses, with the help of Matt, who had raised Walking Horses back home in Tennessee. As Verd puts it,“ Rich and I took hold of this thing together and I bought a marc and he bought a stallion and several mares’. He added,“ We had to scratch to get any information about this breed and got a lot of word-of-mouth advice because there just wasn’ t anything printed about Walking Horses at that time”.
This was 1939, the first year of the Celebration. This was also the year that STROLLING JIM won the big stake and the year that marked the beginning of rapid
LOOKING OVER HIS PAPERS— Mr. Walker is pictured going over the pedigree papers of some of his registered Tennessee Walking Horses.
growth of this remarkable breed. As the years passed Verd Walker and Bill Richards went their separate ways, but both have made their mark in the Walking Horse business. W. D. Richards, better known as“ Rich,’ left the Penney Company to get into the leather business and eventually his interest in W ' alking Horses led him to Middle Tennessee where he now has the Blue Ribbon Leather Company. Verd Walker has remained with the J. C. Penney Company and is now a top ranking store executive for the company on the West Coast. His interest in Walking Horses has varied according to his
location and his ability to participate. The War Years interrupted his personal activity and he didn’ t own horses for eleven years. Flis wife Virginia, whom he married in 1938, has witnessed his horse activity for the past twenty-seven years with mixed emotions. In discussing horses she can tell some great stories, such as“ the time we brought that silly colt home in the back of a Willis Overland and when Verd went to the sendee I was left with that, that“ animal” in the back yard of a city lot. I remember the time he got loose and me and my seventy year old neighbor were out on the highway trying to“ shoo” him back home. And then there was the time... Oh well, what’ s the use?” Virginia is a“ stable widow” and not a“ golf widow,’’ she says.
After the war, Verd moved to Seattle and from there to Oklahoma City, still active with J. C. Penney Company. It was during this time that his interest really began to grow. The annual company meetings were held in Memphis and he would work it out so that he had time to go to Shelbyville and look at Walking Horses.
24 VOICE of the Tennessee Walking Horse