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A MARE? WHY NOT?
When was the last time a mare won the Celebration? The year was 1954 and WHITE STAR won the big stake and the World Championship title with Percy Moss up for Dr. and Mrs. W. V. Gamier of Bastrop, Louisiana. Since that time( thirteen years) there have been twelve stallions crowned as World Grand Champions and today ten of them are standing at stud. One, SUN’ S JET PARADE, has died, and one is still in active competition. Prior to 1954 there were four mares crowned as winners in a fifteen-year span. In 1942 MELODY MAID won the title with Floyd Carothers up for Mr. and Mrs. Frank Rambo of Oakwood Acres, Fayetteville, Tennessee. In 1943 itwas BLACK ANGEL that carried the title with Winston Wiser up for Mr. and Mrs. R. F. Ellis, and in 1944 the World Grand Championship was won by Urban Small riding CITY GIRL for M. J. Myer.
Now... we again ask the question. A mare? Why not? Various areas of horse activity have different regard for stallions and mares. For instance, the Arabian Horse World puts maximum emphasis on the mare while the Thoroughbred business clings strongly to the stallion. The Gaited Horse World, while being Consious of breeding does not put the maximum emphasis on stallions in the show ring as does the Walking Horse World. A mare named MY MY has won the World Grand Championship in the Gaited Horse domain for the past five years at Louisville, Kentucky and appears to again be a strong contender for the same title. By constrast, the Walking Horse business today seems to have a strong tendency to insist that a stallion win the Celebration.
We have always been interested in the developments of the 1965 Celebration Stake Class in which a mare named MIGHTY SUNBEAM put on a fabulous performance with George Livingstone in the saddle. This mare had been tied reserve in the Mare Class behind SHADOW’ S GAY LADY and came on strong to tie fifth in the big stake. Now..... the question is whether or not she would have won the class had she been a stud. It is true that she was in " high cotton” as she was competing with TRIPLE THREAT, JOHNNY MID NIGHT, GO BOY’ S ROYAL HEIR and GO BOY’ S SUNDUST but the fact remains that she did put on a great show.
And what about GOLDEN SUNDUST, the great gelding that Wink Groover showed for several years to win the Aged Gelding Class and came back and was tied down in the Championship Stake. Had he been a stallion would it have made any difference in how he tied?
What benefit, if any, would it be if a mare( or a gelding) were to win the big stake this year? When we think about it and consider that all of the living World Grand Champions are stallions and they are all now standing at stud in Tennessee( the exception being MACK K’ S HANDSHAKER who stands half of the season in Macon, Georgia) it appears that we are getting " stud happy.”
A horse is a horse is a horse..... and as long as our criterion for excellence is based on 20 % Flat Foot Walk, 40 % Running Walk, 20 % Canter and 20 % Conformation it should make no difference whether or not the winner is a Stallion, a Gelding or a Mare.
Whenever we write an article such as this we must remember that there are a lot of angles to consider. We do not, in any way, intend to take anything away from the several major contenders for the 1968 Celebration Championship that are Stallions. These are all great horses and one will perhaps win it; however, we do wish to stimulate the thinking of our readers to at least accept the possibility that a mare can, on ocassion, defeat a stallion. It has been done..... but not in the past thirteen years.
MISSISSIPPI CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 19-21
The Mississippi State Championship Horse Show will be held September 19-21 in the beautiful Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson, Mississippi. Twenty-two Walking Horse classes have been scheduled in the three-night
and Saturday afternoon sessions.
The show is sponsored by the Mississippi State Horse Show Association and complete details of the show can be obtained from them. Contact Shelby Lilly, P. O. Box 4571, Jackson, Mississippi.
54 Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse