1969 Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1969 January Voice RS | Page 23

THIS PICTURE IS A REPRODUCTION OF AN OIL PAINTING BY VICTOR
LALLIER WHICH NOW HANGS IN THE OFFICE OF THE TENNESSEE
WALKING HORSE BREEDERS’ ASSOCIATION.
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miles from the Dement homeplace, I spent two or
three days breaking MERRY LEGS. Then I won first
place with her at the show, and there was plenty of
strong competition. I followed the entire circuit that
year and rode MERRY LEGS in every show. She won
every time, in spite of the fact that her tail — chewed
off by calves on Mr. Dement’s farm — didn’t reach
down to her hocks.
"That fall I took MERRY LEGS to the Tennessee
State Fair in Nashville, where she won her class. In
the stake, where there were 10 or 12 horses, she tied
for second place. I can remember the remarks made
by P. B. Jones of Memphis at that show. *1 don’t know
how this class will come out, but if I were in there
judging, I’d tie that little bob-tail filly Henry Davis is
riding for first place,’ he said.
"In 1914 I took MERRY LEGS on the same circuit
and won at each show. Again we ended the season at
the State Fair at Nashville where MERRY LEGS won
her class as well as the stake. So far as I know, she
won the first cup that was ever offered in a Walking
Horse class at the State Fair. MERRY LEGS was the
first three-year-old that ever won the stake at the
Fair, and I don’t believe another three-year-old won it
until 1936 when her granddaughter, commonly known
January, 1969
as LITTLE MERRY LEGS, achieved this distinction.
Incidentally, LITTLE MERRY LEGS was ridden in
that show of 1936 by the late Floyd Carothers of
Wartrace.
"Mr. Dement, always anxious and obliging in his
endeavors to promote good will for the Tennessee
Walking Horse breed, oftentimes loaned MERRY LEGS
to various friends who showed her in different sec­
tions. In 1915 the late J. G. Miller of Bell Buckle,
Tennessee, took MERRY LEGS to Kentucky, where
she won every place she was shown. He ended the
season that year at the State Fair in Nashville and
she won the stake again. Z. R. Pickens of Bell Buckle
showed this mare at different times in Kentucky and
Tennessee and won first places with her at dozens of
shows. In 1922, when MERRY LEGS was an eleven-
year-old brood mare, she was shown by Floyd Caro­
thers and Orman Gilmore of Tullahoma on another
Tennessee circuit, around Lebanon, and she continued
to win every time she was ridden.
"MERRY LEGS was without a doubt the greatest
show mare I’ve ever seen. Why, I’ve even seen her
win first places at shows while one of her colts was
left in the stall.”
"As a brood mare, MERRY LEGS was as good as
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