1967-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1967 July Voice RS | Page 7

Muriel Lee and her husband Cebern have been active
in the Walking Horse business for five years. They saw
their first Tennessee Walking Horse in the spring of
1963 and have since followed a course that has led them
into the big-time of national Walking Horse activity.
Their trainer, Mr. David Welsh, has been with them
since the winter of 1963 and has guided their activities
very carefully. In 1964, when they were just beginning
to get established and purchase some show stock and
some brood mares, Mrs. Lee happened to see a horse
named SOCIETY SOUVENIR, which was being shown
throughout the northeast by trainer Bill Sloat for Mr.
Clayton Palmer of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. One
look was all she needed. Her immediate comment was
“that is my kind of horse.”
It all started at the Professional Horsemens Associa­
tion show in Syracuse, N. Y., in 1965 where she saw him
for the first time. Over a period of two years Muriel
rode in many shows and observed many different horses
but she never forgot SOCIETY SOUVENIR. Prelimi­
nary investigation found that he was “not for sale.” They
always received the common answer “where would I find
one to beat him?” Circumstances changed, however, and
eventually, some two years later, Cebern Lee was able to
purchase the horse. Mr. Lee tells the story, saying, “We
were at a horse show and Muriel had just won the Ama­
teur Championship on STORM WARNING. Everyone
was sitting around in the stable at the showgrounds talk­
ing and they all looked up to see Bill Sloat leading
SOCIETY SOUVENIR down the hall. He walked right
up to Mrs. Lee and handed her the reins. Surprised is not
the word to describe her expression.” He was a stallion at
the time but was gelded shortly thereafter to become a
Ladies Amateur Horse.
JULY, 1967
In 1965 SOUVENIR won twenty-two blues out of
twenty-five shows. Since then Mrs. Lee has shown him
to many top ribbons. Her victories included winning the
Amateur Class and Championship at Columbus, Ohio,
her first time out. She won a total of eighteen blues in
twenty shows in 1966. Her most impressive accomplish­
ment, however, was winning the Reserve “Horse of the
Year” award of the American Horse Show Association.
SOUVENIR was also acclaimed the high point amateur
horse of this same organization in 1966.
Muriel Lee and SOCIETY SOUVENIR have worked
together only three times in 1967, but they will probably
make several shows before the Celebration in their prepa­
ration for Ladies Amateur competition at the national
classic.
Other activity at Leeswood Stables includes a full-
scale breeding program as well as showing. GO BOY’S
REBEL O, the 1966 “Horse of the Year” of the American
Horse Show Association, is the featured breeding horse.
The program has been curtailed recently while trainer
David Welsh gets the big sorrel stallion ready for Cele­
bration competition. In addition to SOUVENIR and
REBEL, Leeswood Stables will have several other fine
horses in hot competition for Celebration honors.
A total of fifty-six horses grace the 110-acres com­
prising Leeswood Stables located just outside the small
New England community of Oaks Corners, New York.
They have had an excellent year for young colts. Several
more are on the way and should do much to enhance the
position of Leeswood Stables in the Walking Horse
business.
BELOW—Mr. and Mrs. Cebern Lee are pictured with two
of their horses as they stand near the front of their Lees­
wood Stables.
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