Dr Greely was sitting in his car with some friends and T onnv nulled up beside the car m the glow of the big
n^ht lieht that illuminated the h . lside . “ Good evening5
Doctor noctor ,”” he saia said , as ^ the four people i got ™ out of the me car car . “__ Hello .. ’ -r Lonny .....»» ,” Dr . Hreelv Greely answered ,, moving up t0
the neck necK ui of i his *« -------- horse . “ Have you • ever met thes lAA <= se . lolks " I onnv ? My wife Madeline and Mr . and Mrs . Lucas ’’
Lonny spoke and reached down to shake hands . Dr . Greely moved close to Lonny and in a ow voice said , “ I ’ ve been thinking about what you said this afternoon — about the cool reception you ve had and I believe I
know why .” ." Lonny nodded and the doctor went VV^1L on —. “ See that group standing by the pickup truck over there ?” pointing toward a dark spot along a fence . “ Well , I believe that little group is behind your current popularity .” “ How ’ s that ?” Lonny said , as he jerked on the reins of his horse who was getting impatient with all the standing
by Charles Barry Sanderson
“ Time sure does fly ’ 5 . . . was the impression that Lonny had when he rounded the turn and passed under the famous wrought iron gate onto the Festival Show Grounds . Helen , his wife , was riding with him and they had talked almost constantly for the last one hundred and fifty miles . The big topic of discussion was Lonny ’ s health . Helen was sure that the worry and strain of the past two months , especially since he had gotten BEAU GEN TRY , had taken its toll and that her twenty-nine year old
husband had lost some weight .
Helen sat silently as they pulled up in front of the stables where they were to set up fo rthe next two weeks and then she said , “ Honey ... I just want you to know that I am awfully proud of you and I . . . 1 . . . well , you know what I mean .” Lonny smiled , and leaned over and kissed her saying , “ Sweetheart ... I know what you mean all right . I also know we won ’ t sec much of each other while we are here so you look after the kids and don ’ t worry . I ’ ll be all right .” With that he opened the door and set to work on what could very well be the biggest two weeks ’ work he would ever put in .
People in the horse business harbor a lot of jealousy and ill will regarding each other and rival horses , but Lonny was beginning to believe he had been singled out for some special rebuff . He had always tried to be friendly with everyone , especially other trainers , and he had always tried to show respect for most everyone , but for some reason he was not being received too cordially by some people in the horse business . This would not bother some people but it did bother Lonny , and he had mentioned it to several people including Dr . Greely .
Lonny had arrived two days before the show was to begin in order to let his horses rest . There were a lot of people already on the show grounds and whenever he got his horses out to work them , there was usually a crowd . He had made arrangements with Dr . Greely to work BEAU GENTRY about eleven o ’ clock one night and somehow the word had gotten out and as Lonny topped the hill he was surprised to see a gathering of over a hundred people waiting for him . It ' was a cool crisp night , just right for working a horse , and he could feel the energy of his big black stallion as he flat-footed up the hill .
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“ Well ,” the doctor went on , “ the fellow with the light jacket is a Mr . Ralph Wild . He is a sort of a go-between in the horse business . He doesn ’ t have the money to participate on a big scale so he tries to make an impression by hanging around with the ‘ big boys ’ and carrying tid-bits of news and rumor from one camp to another .” “ How does that affect me ?” Lonny asked . “ From what I can find out , he is telling everyone that he owns a part of my horse and that you are betting on another horse to win the big stake besides BEAU GENTRY .” “ Hmmm . . Lonny queried . “ That gives us all something to think about , doesn ’ t it ? What say we give him a look at HIS horse .” With that he kicked the big black stud into a flat foot walk and headed across the field .
Lonny worked BEAU GENTRY for about fifteen minutes in a flat foot walk and got him loosened up . He stopped for a change of equipment , removing the light chains and putting on a pair of show boots . Most horses work a little bit better with chains than they do boots . . . most horses , that is , except BEAU GENTRY . Lonny turned to Dr . Greely and yelled , mostly for for the benefit of the onlookers , “ Hang a pair of sixteen-ounce boots on your horse , Doc , and he is a real scorpion .” He turned around and headed down along the fence in a good fast walk with ol ’ GENTRY popping his head with pistonlike precision . They turned the corner at the edge of the field , just barely in sight , and Lonny wheeled around
and kicked his mount , clucking to him . “ Come ’ re , hoss , he said , “ let ’ s show ’ em something .”
The group of men standing beside the pickup truck saw him coming along the fence in a running walk . One
man said “ He don ’ t look too good to me . Besides . • he s got no speed to go with . . As he spoke , Lonny
dt ? str * de and cracked his horse across the flank- EAU GENTRY dropped his rear end another notch and arched his neck to perfection as he appeared to be climbing for the moon with his front end . “ Damnation ■
1 thought you said he didn ’ t have any speed ?” one man ke left the group to get a better look . Ralph Wild
fu i -^ . neck nervously as he broke sweat on his fore
nead , thinking to himself that he might have started something he couldn ’ t stop .
The next morning Lonny was at the stable working
VOICE of the Tennessee Walking Hor ^