1968-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1968 August Voice RS | Page 17

We once heard an enthusiast ol
another breed from the North say,
"One cannot help but experience a
thrill when those big studs come in­
to the ring at the Celebration with
the organ playing 'Dixie’ in the back­
ground. It makes a man proud to be
a horseman.” This fairly well sums
up the feeling that most people have
regarding this annual classic. There
are a few events in the sporting
world that attract the acclaim of al­
most everyone, and the Celebration
certainly falls into this category.
Consider . . . the World Series, the
Pro-Bowl, the Indy 500, the Ken­
tucky Derby, a Heavyweight Champ­
ionship fight, the Masters . . . they
all rank as being the "classic” con­
tests of the sports world and we are
proud to put the Tennessee Walking
Horse annual championship horse
show . . . referred to as "the Cele­
bration” ... in this category.
Now in its thirtieth year, the Ten­
nessee Walking Horse National Cel­
ebration was begun in 1929 as a
small horse show that focused on a
festive atmosphere much like the
annual Strawberry Festival. It was
begun by a small group of civic-
minded citizens who felt that a proj­
ect of this nature would be good for
the community. It is now a project
of gigantic proportions that is "good
for the nation.”
The Tennessee Walking Horse Na­
tional Celebration draws interest and
participation from all parts of the
nation and, indeed, many parts of
the world. On August 30, the town
of Shelbyville, Tennessee, commonly
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