1967-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1967 June Voice RS | Page 12

By Gloria L. Spencer
RAY RHOADS . . . Dean of West
Coast Walking Horse Trainers
In the Walking Horse business, as in any other area of
endeavor, there are a few people who are outstanding. A
man who stands out in this very competitive business must
be many things in addition to being a professional trainer.
He must be a good businessman ... a public relations man,
a good promoter and a showman. The West Coast is priv­
ileged to have had such a man in their midst for years . . .
Ray Rhoads, a man whom we will call the “dean of West
Coast Walking Horse trainers,” is that man.
Ray Rhoads looks back over 'his 46 years and doesn’t
find much that he would do differently. His interest in
horses came naturally as he was born on a farm in Red
River, Oklahoma. His family moved to Burk Burnette,
Texas, when he was a youngster and this became his
“home town.” His dad was a cotton farmer in addition to
raising cattle and Ray says that riding horses was part of
the daily routine.
He met Phyllis Savage while in high school and in 1943
they were married. This, oddly enough, became his first
link with the Tennessee Walking Horse. Phyllis’ father
had purchased some registered Walking Horses before the
war and Ray soon developed a real attachment for the
breed.
Ray served in the Marine Corps during the war and
when he came home he decided to get into the horse busi­
ness. Ray had quite a background in business as he had
managed a warehouse and had run a large farm before
going into the service. With this business experience to
fall back on, young Mr. Rhoads decided that if he was to
get anywhere in the Tennessee Walking Horse business he
better find out all he could about the breed. Where else
but Tennessee offered the best experience, so in 1946 Rav
and Phyllis headed for the Middle basin of the “Volun­
teer” state and went to work for Mr. S. W. Beech, who
was active at the time both as a breeder and exhibitor
Ray worked for Mr. Beech for over a year and then re­
turned to Santa Rosa, California, and' opened a public
stable. Ray has never lost his contact with Middle Ten­
nessee and takes pride in the fact that he got his “basic
training” there.
12
ABOVE—' The Ray Rhoads Stables at the Glcnmcade Riding
BFinW-Rav
and Phyllis
the current
Srsc show
RIGHX-Stepping
high contemplate
on the LEPRECHAUN
_Ray Rhoads up.
He had ^ ^ay was faced with an expansion problem.
Pomnn T°,C kus*ncss than he had barn and he moved to
the faire-
j
^vantage of the fine stable facilities at
duced so °Unf S'
stayc^ there for fifteen years and pro-
Coast M™6 ° r • outstanding Walking Horses of the West
°n West
°J?1S C.ar*y horses are still making their mark
that his eff aSt aj^nS Horse production and he is pleasn
^
, tS to f*ave top stock” have paid off.
move and
ycaTrs before Ray Rhoads made ano;
Gienmeade R d n?nI?eut00k ovcr thc main stable at
Club just outside Pomona and set
VOICE of the Tennessee Walking 1