1966-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1966 September Voice RS | Page 18
ring. He and Helen had been invited to go to the
Midvale Farm Auction Sale with Dink Fuller on Sat
urday morning and, while they were waiting for Mr.
Fuller’s groom to bring the car, they talked about
the stake class. "Dink,” Lonny asked, "tell me the
truth. Can I win that blue with Tiger?” "I’ll be hon
est with you, Lonny,” Dink said. "From what I hear,
they’re going to try to tie the black horse again.
He’s got a blood line that has had a lot of pushing
but they need a World Champion to keep things mov
ing.” Helen butted in, "What do you mean, they are
going to try to tie the black horse again? Do you
think they would do anything crooked?”
Dink scratched his thinning hairline and answered,
"Helen, it’s not a matter of being crooked, it’s just
a matter of a judge’s opinion. What I’m saying is
that Lonny can beat the other two horses hands
down, but he is going to have to put it to the black
horse BAD in order to get the blue.” Lonny thought
this over all the way to the sale and back again.
by Charles Barry Sanderson
Lonny Barnes was finally there! The Annual Na
tional Tennessee Walking Horse Festival . . . the
place where the world champions are crowned. As
he pulled up in the ring for the line-up, he noticed
that the seventy-two horses made a complete circle
around the ring. As the grooms came in and went
to work, he asked Little Joe how they looked. "They’s
a lot of good horses in here, Mista Lonny. I jes’ hope
they saw you.”
Tiger Bay stayed with them through the second
workout and was pulled in on the grass toward the
last. Lonny didn’t think that his horse could make
the final workout but, as luck would have it, a horse
threw a shoe just as the last workout started, giving
them a much-needed rest. There were twelve two-
year-old stud in the final workout and after what
seemed like four hours, the judges turned in their
cards. The waiting was excruciating! Hope upon hope
wouldn’t get the job done, and Lonny remembered
the words of Dink Fuller: "It takes more than a good
horse and desire to carry out a blue.”
The next morning, Lonny and his wife were to have
breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Larson and the other
owners of Tiger Bay. They met at the familiar Dixie
Plantation Restaurant about nine o’clock. As they
entered, they were pleased to be greeted by a host
of well-wishers. "Good show, Lonny” . . . "Great
horse you got there, buddy” . . . "I’ll trade you two
ten-thousand-dollar cats for your big bay horse, Lon
ny” ... it all sounded good, even though they had
only tied fourth. As they sat down with their group,
the old man with the diamond stickpin looked up
over his cup of coffee and said, "Lonny, I was real
pleased with your performance last night.”
Thoroughly convinced that he had over-ridden his
horse during the preliminary workout in the stud
class, Lonny set about planning his ring tactics for
the upcoming Two-Year-Old Stake. He was sure that
he had learned a lot in his first real test in the big
18
The Two-Year-Old Championship at the Festival is
always held as the first class on the last night of the
show. It is considered one of the best because these
are going to be the great horses of the future. As
Lonny fined up outside the gate with the other train
ers and their- horses, he looked around and made a
comparison with the mass of horseflesh that had come
into the first class. There were only thirty-two horses
in the stake, including fillies, geldings and studs.
Lonny had decided to try something: he had eased
his way up toward the front and, as the gate opened,
he quickly moved in between two other riders and
entered the gate first. He had not broken any rules
and had not touched a horse in his way in, but he
had picked up a bit of the crowd’s attention. Pulling
up alongside him in a fast flat-foot walk was the
black horse that had won the Two-Year-Old Stud
Class. As they rode side by side, the rider said,
'Young feller, that was a bad move and you better
be on your toes, 'cause you ain’t got a chance,” and
then he pulled off in his all-too-fast flat-foot walk.
Tiger did well in the first workout and, when they
fined up for the grooms to come in, Lonny was sur
prised to see Dink Fuller walk up to him. Dink said
with a grin, "I told Little Joe I’d had a lot more
experience at grooming than he had. Is it all right
with you?’ Truthfully, Lonny had never been more
pleased to see anyone in his life. As Dink went to
work on the horse they talked about their progress
so far. Don’t worry — you’re in the workout and
your horse isn’t tired,” he said. Lonny admitted that
Tiger was in better shape than he was himself.
Lonny was considerably encouraged when he no
ticed two of the judges studying Tiger with great
care. The third just glanced over him and moved on.
He also noticed that they were all very interested
m J?16 ^.act ^at Dink Fuller was grooming for him.
e big test got under way with seven horses on
the rail. Lonny tried to find himself a good spot, but
VOICE of the Tennessee Walking Horse