1969 Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1969 July Voice RS | Page 48

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The American Walking Horse Association held its
eighteenth Annual School and Show May 23 and 24
at the Quentin Riding Club, Quentin, Pennsylvania.
For the first time in three years Poseidon, Cod of the
Sea and Storm (who, incidentally, gave the horse to
man ), favored the show with untroubled weather so
nat the program went off smoothly and without inter­
ruption. A portable shelter twelve by twenty-two feet,
with plastic curtains in case of inclement weather, was
built to shelter the organ, sound equipment, trophies,
ribbons, and officials. It also provided a base in the
center of the ring for directing the school functions
and the horse show.
The school opened promptly at 10 A. M. Friday with
Ernie Bugg of Lawn Vale Farm, Gainesville, Virginia,
carrying the flag and Alan Stevenson delivering the
invocation. President Cebern Lee greeted the members
and guests and gave a brief resume of the program to
follow.
The first event was a demonstration of how to
handle a young foal and how to start to break a year­
ling. A pen about twelve by twenty was built in which
to keep the mare and foal. Bill St. Clair brought a
mare and a ten-day-old foal to work with, and it sure
was a strong, active creature. When the boys tried to
handle it in the pen, it got away from them and
broke out of the enclosure. Of course, it came right
back to its mother, but it provided the handlers a lot
of excitement and exercise while, at the same time,
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the spectators received both a great deal of amuse­
ment and some real instruction about these young
problems. It is surprising how quickly these critters
calm down and submit to handling and leading. Gene
Wilson, St. Clair’s trainer who did most of the work
with the colt, did a real good job and demonstrated
that he knows how to do his work.
Next was the yearling demonstration. Both St. Clair
and Leeswood Stables had provided yearlings, so both
were worked at the same time. Both yearlings had
received some previous attention, but they were far
from broke and the two riders had to exhibit a fine
degree of horsemanship in order to remain aboard
their mounts. Gene Wilson rode for St. Clair and Alan
Reiber for Leeswood. Along with the visual demon­
stration was a great deal of verbal commentary to
explain the whys and wherefores of the occurrences.
The demonstration of gaits was next on the program
and was very interesting. Bill Sloat showed the flat
walk on Harriet Bothamley’s mount; Ernie Bugg ex­
hibited the canter on Carl Hengen’s NIGHT HAWK;
and Billy Boyd demonstrated the running walk with
SOCIETY SOUVENIR from Leeswood. George Hen­
son, the judge from Winchester, Tennessee, provided
the commentary.
The last event before lunch was a lecture on horse­
shoeing by Farrier Dave Dorn. He explained how
shoes were adjusted to conform or to overcome hoof
defects. He had a pattern of a portion of a hoof broken
to an extreme condition and he showed, with this
Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse