Walking Horse show . This show is sponsored by the Maury County Horsemens Association and the new pre , ident of that organization , Mr . Marshall Ledbetter 0f Columbia , Tennessee , has made every effort to make it
a great show .
Your Editor , on being informed of the judges for the 1967 show , was obliged to tell Mi . Ledbetter that it would appear to many prominent trainers and exhibitors that the show would definitely favor a paiticular power faction in Middle Tennessee . We proceeded to speculate for Mr . Ledbetter as to who would be there and who wouldn ’ t be there and what horses would be the logical contenders in each class .
Whether or not Mr . Ledbetter relayed this thinking to his Judges is not known ; however , it is now recognized that the three Judges for the 1967 show , Mr . Jimmy Holloway of Jackson , Mississippi , Mr . Clyde Orton of Caruthersville , Mo . and Mr . Hall McNabb of Rcadyville , Tennessee , did the finest , most unbiased job of tying horses that we have had the privilege of seeing in several years .
From where wc sat , it appeared that almost every class was tied without regard to the horse ’ s breeding , his owner , or who was riding him . It can be done . . . wc saw it ! And we sincerely hope that other judges will follow the example of these three men in judging horse shows . If they would , wc wouldn ’ t be able to raise Tennessee Walking Horses fast enough to meet the demand . When a person calls asking if he should bring his horse to a show you are judging , tell him to “ load up .” If he has the horse ... tie him . If not , give him what he deserves . It wouldn ’ t be long before everyone would have a clean shot at the blue ribbon and that ’ s all they want .
If a trainer has to have some assurance that he will get tied before he shows his horse , he either doesn ’ t have a very good horse or he lacks confidence in his own ability to show him . At any rate ... it never hurt a good horse to get beat once in a while .
To Mr . Ledbetter and his associates we would like to offer this vote of confidence for an excellent show and to Mr . Holloway , Mr . Orton and Mr . McNabb , “ congratulations on a job well done .” There ... we said it !
Once in a while we all have to take a back scat and admit that we were mistaken . “ To admit that one is wrong is but to admit that he is smarter today than he was yesterday .” This is an old saying that has merit in the case at hand . We would like to preface the following article with a statement of fact having to do with the
policy we have tried to advocate for the past few years regarding horse shows and horse show judging .
Without libeling ourselves we have tried to be consistent in pointing out that being a “ judge ” at a horse show is a very important and responsible job . We have taken issue on several notable occasions regarding “ fixed ” horse shows and “ crooked ” judging . We have also maintained that the practice of “ calling an exhibitor and telling him either to BRING his horse or to LEAVE him at home ” is , within itself , dishonest . With this in mind we present the following text .
The Columbia Spring Jubilee is considered to be one of the major early season Walking Horse shows . It is a three-day event that is held in most elaborate facilities , second only to the Celebration grounds as an exclusive
40 ments in * recent^y the victim of some interesting comnessrp Tk ° rSe written in a newspaper in Teneestinn nfC CrUX ° I ‘ * ssue evolved from the sincere sug- ; np . ‘ Wp i /° Ur Jf^Itor that any comments made regarded nrxrc ° 1SC \ S i }° Sencral public ( such as in a lounderstanH^Cr u^011^ made with restraint and the alleged n T ? ^aJ Pubhc knows little about the this mprAi ° Cm Crue , ty to our breed . We mention eardino- tJ a means ° f pointing out our position regarding this issue at the national level . should kn ° WL- ^at ** * s not our contention that we rather i^1S 1SSUe and Perhaps it will go away , but ranks Tf dlscussed at all it should be within our own mass nf h ’ C J331 w^ ° wr ° te this article could see the me- nuhi ;. dfS^d and untrue material that is currently be- Paper colnm . 1 ) atloJlally by other “ well-meaning ” newstake vour ed '? StSj they wou , d not have been so eager to be used in rr ! 0r . t0 . task for his suggestion that “ restraint jr entioning this subject to the general public .
article * 1 ? ™ y ° U ^ave t^le resPonsibiIity of writing a horse that your ° Wn Ioca * newsPaper please remember than tfiev do th * the negative much more readily feet i tbe P0sitive and any reference to “ bloody
being bad ' fvf ^u ° r^ ^orscs ■ • • sore-ing to the point o g bad for the horses ,” etc , regardless of the source ,
VOICE of the Tennessee Walking Horse