1967-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1967 July Voice RS | Page 9

MURRAY ™
FARM SALE
WHERE CHAMPIONS ARE BOUGHT AND SOLD
WORLD’S LARGEST
WALKING HORSE SALE
consign now ! ENTRIES CLOSE SEPT.
9th
OWNERS:
Pulaski, Tennessee FOR ENTRY BLANKS , CONTACT:
Mrs. Barbara YJ\gg\ns
Murray Farm
Box 425
Lewisburg, Tennessee
Dear Mr. Spencer:
We feel that the “Voice” is sin­
cerely dedicated to the betterment of
all phases of the Walking Horse bus­
iness and is truly interested in the prob­
lems involved. It is for this reason that
I am writing to you. We have had a
situation at a show here that we
would very much like to have your
opinion on. The judge was chosen for
his reputation and ability to tie horses,
one of the “big names.” We people,
not in the heart of the Walking Horse
territory, look to these men as the ex­
perts, we import them to judge shows
and expect them to represent the best
of the Walking Horse business. We
fully appreciate that different judges
see different things in horses and there
are always differences of opinion as to the best horses. The situation I
should like to ask you about was as
follows:
The judge worked the class and
called two horses for a final workout
for first place. One of these two horses
broke in the running walk in front of
the judge in the first workout. Okay,
this was cancelled out when he was put
in the final workout. The horse again
broke in front of the judge and there
can be no question of the judge not
seeing it as he galloped right past the
judge.
The other horse made no mistakes.
They lined up. The judge tied the
horse that broke in first place and the
other horse in second place. What was
the point of a workout, Mr. Spencer?
How can a judge honestly tie two
horses like this? Doesn’t a mistake in
final workout automatically eliminate
that horse from winning first place if
his competitor makes no mistakes and
keeps his form all the way to the fin­
ish? I do not exaggerate the picture
and can give a number of competent
witnesses to what I have told you.
This letter is not being written in
an attempt to involve any personalities,
but merely to point out how discourag­
ing this kind of thing is to trainers and
owners alike. We all would like to see
good sportsmanship and integrity dis­
played. Anything else harms us all. In­
directly a judge is harming himself if
S. W. Beech, Jr.
Lewisburg, Tennessee
Pete Yokley
JULY, 1967
OCTOBER 11-14
1967
he attempts to repay favors, give
tokens of friendship, or do anything
other than the job for which he was
hired, and that is to tie horses fairly
and to the best of his ability. Who
owns the horse, who rides the horse,
who trains the horse should have noth­
ing to do with it. Human nature being
what it is, I suppose this is really not
completely possible, but let’s try to
avoid any flagrant violations of the
code or we all get a black eye.
Very truly yours,
Member of North Carolina
Walking Horse Association,
Judges Committee
EDITOR’S REPLY
Dear Sir:
We have confronted many situations
similar to that which you describe. In
effect, there can be no valid excuse
for such a tie but I have heard a
judge state that the winning horse,
even though he made a mistake, had
more “bloom and show” than the sec­
ond place horse and was “doing so
much more” that he deserved the blue
even though he did break in front of
him. I suppose this could be reason
enough if, in the opinion of the judge,
it was the case.
Thank you for your letter. You have
done an excellent job of restating what
we have tried to say for several years.
THE EDITOR
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