1969 Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1969 February Voice RS

GLL FARMS BARN PARTY SETS STAGE FOR 1969 SHOW SEASON AS COLTS ONVEILED The annual GLL Farms Barn Party, held in Collier ville, Tennessee on Friday, -January 31, probably broke all records for attendance and enthusiasm for a similar event. The amiable George L. Lenox, ably assisted by his staff of Mrs. Betty Lenox and the popular Farm Manager, Joe Johnson, put on an extra vaganza which left everyone with the opinion that "It sure makes a body proud to be in the Walking Horse business.’* One man in the Gaited Horse busi ness said, "I’m switching over!” Well over three thousand people attended the annual event throughout the twelve-hour day and saw, in ad dition to some of the truly great colts sired by CAR- BOX COPY, a fashion show including sports attractions and riding apparel. The fashion show proved to be a highlight of the ladies’ evening. It was professionally staged and managed by Suzanne Culbertson of Mar shall. Texas. Music for the event was provided by the ever-popular Jimmy Richardson and his ageless elec tric organ, and Jimmy did an excellent job of provid ing a background mood for the style show. Additional entertainment was furnished by Dot Beck of Searcy, Arkansas, who did a fine job of "picking and singing.” If thirteen hundred pounds of barbecue and a match ing quantity of liquid refreshment is any indication as to the size of the crowd, then we have made a good estimate. They came early and stayed late. Horses and people were everywhere and it was somewhat difficult to work a young horse in such con gested conditions. Joe Webb rode CARBON COPY twice during the day and evening and rallied many >upporters around the black stallion that can obvious ly still "go with the best.” Enthusiasm reached a peak as Joe carried him around the turn of the barn hall and came up the back side in the great running walk typical of this 1964 World Champion. Also in attendance was Mr. E. Carl Hengen, owner of B. MAJOR WILSON, the 1961 World Champion. Carl was obviously pleased to see several top trainers with young stock by his stallion, who is also standing at GLL Farms. It is apparent that by next year B. MAJOR WILSON will be playing an even more im portant role in the GLL Farms program as he had his best breeding season last year with much interest being shown in breeding to him this season. Joe Gibbs exhibited a fine B. MAJOR WILSON colt that should do well in 1969. It appears that the 1969 breeding program for CAR- BOX7 COPY is going to be very productive. This year he will be bred at "private treaty” and will be booked only to top producing mares or top show mares. When you start attracting such mares as MACK K'S AMAN DA D, the great mare that Mrs. R. H. Barnwell of Shreveport, Louisiana has showed for the past few seasons, you’ve got to have something going. Mrs. Barnwell will be sharing honors with trainer Bill Hut son this year on COPY’S RECORD, the top three- year-old mare that they purchased last year. 12 Another attraction at the event this year was CO PY’S ROAN ALLEN, the syndicated stud colt that has attracted much acclaim as a weanling. A blue roan stud colt, this little fellow is hard to fault and he man aged to sell himself to the point that all remaining shares were sold at the party. There were several other syndicated,horses at the party, including REPUBLICAN COPY and DEMO CRAT COPY. Both are making progress and both ap pear to be on the way to higher things. Wink Groover is doing well with the representative of the current administration and Jack Johnson has his DEMOCRAT rival in fine form. Wink put on a show with WINK’S CHOICE, the outstanding black two-year-old stud owned by Randall Rollins of Atlanta. Another Groover charge is CC TRADEMARK, a three-year-old owned by GLL. Wink also showed the popular JUDGES’ CHOICE and served warning for three-year-old clas ses this year as he will be carrying the Fashion Two Twenty Stables banner with her. Russell Pate showed the much-discussed MASTER COPY, the colt that Bill Tomlinson of North Wilkes- boro, North Carolina purchased from Harvey Lefevers at Montgomery, and indicated that he is a true top contender for 1969. O’Dell McConnell and son Jimmy rode COPY’S COQUETTE and DEACON and were much pleased with their performances. CARBON CAV ALIER and INDEPENDENT COPY were impressive with Joe Webb in the saddle and indicated that both could be on the way to upsetting some horses this year. There were "sales and rumors of sales” running rampant during the day as people began to size up the situation as to "who had come to buy.” As it turned out, even the most lucrative offers were turned down by most parties. Everyone remembered last year, when Mr. V. G. Gochneaur purchased a filly for $27,500 and saw her win the world championship, so they were not selling. Dickie Pate did finalize one im portant sale as he handled the transaction between W. L. Reed and Bill Allen on CARBON COPY’S STAR, a fine three-year-old filly that he showed last year. We are sure that there were other sales but all the S 15,000, $20,000 and $25,000 offers were rejected. Time will tell if this was wise on the part of astute CARBON COPY colt owners. The weather was the only deterrent to a perfect day as it started raining in the late afternoon and contin ued until Saturday morning. The entire GLL Farms estate was a sea of mud by dawn as wreckers were called in to pull out the mass of automobiles stranded all over the hundred-acre spread that makes up the Lenox homesite. When asked about the problems of the grounds Mr. Lenox said, "If that was the biggest problem that I had, I would be in good shape.” He has other problems, as we all have, but the progress of CARBON COPY as a breeding stallion is not one of them. Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse

1969 Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1969 February Voice RS | Page 10