1969 Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1969 February Voice RS | Page 9

Three hours had passed since Lonny had washed
the feet of his prized two-year-old. He checked on him
about every thirty minutes and noticed that he was
beginning to get a little life back. About 10 o’clock
that morning, Dr. Greely drove up and came into the
barn. He had two men with him. With a smile on his
face he walked over to Lonny, who had just finished
working an aged mare, and said, "Lonny ... I want
you to meet a couple of friends of mine. This is Vernon
Kemp and Glen Merritt. They are newcomers in the
Walking Horse business and want to see BEAU JACK
worked.”
Lonny had stalled about as long as he could. Finally
he turned to Dr. Greely and said, "Could I see you a
minute?”, then led the way into the office. "Doc ... I
tried something last night and it backfired. When I
started to get BEAU JACK out of his stall this morn­
ing he was a holy terror. I couldn’t get him to budge
and finally washed and greased his feet in the stall.
He might be all right now . . . but I’m not sure. Do
you still want me to try and work him?” Dr. Greely
looked at Lonny with astonishment. His face flushed
and he said, "Dammit, Lonny! You’re just like all
these other dumb-heads. Get the greatest natural
Walking Horse that ever lived and you’ve just got to
try to improve on nature!” Lonny had never seen Dr.
Greely so mad. "All right ... all right. I made a
mistake. It’s for sure that he’ll fight like a tiger if
he’s mistreated, so at least I know what not to do in
the future.” Dr. Greely looked at him and said, "You
get him out and work him. I want to see if I’ve still
got a horse.”
It took only a few minutes for Lonny to find out that
he still had a great horse. BEAU JACK was a little
reluctant to cooperate at first and tried to throw Lon­
ny twice before settling down to work. Lonny did no­
tice one thing about the horse that was interesting: he
was much more relaxed in his way of going than he
had been before and was a lot smoother. He was also
a little lower in the back end, which indicated that he
just might have figured out something important after
all.
BEAU JACK finally got limbered up and came on
strong in both the flat foot walk and the running walk.
Lonny had not tried to square him up as yet and had
planned to have him re-shod later in the week, add­
ing a little bit more foot. The way he was working
indicated that he just might be better off like he was.
After about twenty minutes of hard work, Lonny stop­
ped and yelled to M. L. "Hey . . . bring me a pair of
those new 3” boots. I think I’ll just give 'em a try.”
M. L. had to unwrap them from the box as they had
not been opened yet. As he headed toward Lonny and
BEAU JACK he tossed a boot in his right hand, try­
ing to figure the weight. "That’s pretty light, Mister
Lonny. Is this the pair you want?” Smiling as he dis­
mounted, Lonny said, "Yep ... I believe that’s all it
will take.” Removing the chains, Lonny fitted the
boots to his black stud colt. He checked each strap
to see if they were loose enough for some movement
but tight enough not to fall down over the hoof. Swing­
ing back into the saddle, Lonny said, "Now, Doctor.
Let’s see what’s going to happen!”
BEAU JACK didn’t move when Lonny clucked to
him. He was prompted forward but almost went to his
knees as Lonny spurred his flank. "Come up, hoss!”
Lonny yelled. "Stand up there!” The black stallion
quivered as he stepped forward, laying his ears back.
He didn’t like the uncomfortable weight around his
February, 1969
front feet. After a few steps, however, he began to
become accustomed to the strange feeling and began
to loosen up. As they eased into a smooth flat foot
walk, Dr. Greely watched him closely. When Lonny
reached the end of the barn the doctor said, "Lonny,
how about taking him outside? It’s not too cold.”
Lonny stopped and studied the thought before saying,
"I don’t think he’ll run away.”
As soon as BEAU JACK saw the wide-open spaces
he came to life. Lonny felt his surge forward as he
headed up the path toward the ring. About halfway to
the ring he was in an all-too-fast flat foot walk and as
they approached the ring he took a fast step to his
right and lunged toward the woods. Lonny lost one
stirrup and tried to remain in the saddle as BEAU
JACK jumped a ditch in full stride. As he hit the
ground on the other side, the black stud did a slight
but quick turn to the left and Lonny found himself in
the air. He saw a tree stump out of his left eye, but
that was all.
Dr. Greely was yelling orders to everyone. "M. L..
you and Mr. Kemp go after the horse. He’s headed
through the woods toward the road.” He hurried to
Lonny, who was motionless on the ground. Turning to
his other friend, he said, "Go get my bag out of the
car. I believe he needs some help bad.”
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PHONE: [phone]
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Available in 50 lb. D™01
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| City & State
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