For weeks in middle Tennessee at the horse barns , the meat & three diners , the coffee shops the street talk was all about The Maiden . Exactly what is this thing called The Maiden ?
Four years ago Kyle Elliott and Jessica Mast approached Tommy Hall with the idea of adding this ” different ” class to The International schedule . What a bombshell it turned out to be . A huge surprise in excitement for everyone The Maiden is a class at The International where unshown horses in the Two Year Old Trail Pleasure Division make their debut . The entries cannot have been shown under saddle in any horse show prior to this class . The horses may have been taken to a show and ridden in the warm up ring or on the show grounds prior to their debut . This action plus videos circulating of many of the entries sparked the street talk and hype associated with several of the entries . The Maiden is the first class Wednesday on the International schedule . The entry fee is $ 300 and is paid many weeks prior to the actual show date . This entry fee includes showing in the qualifying class and IF you make the finals your fee is already paid . The winner of the Maiden final will exit the ring with a check for $ 25,000 ! Reserve Maiden winner takes home a whooping $ 10,000 ! The rest of the $ 50,000 is divided between the third thru fifth placing horses . Folks , $ 50,00 + is the largest purse ever given in a Tennessee Walking Horse Class that I am aware of---its fan- dam-- tastic !!!!!!
As the talk and excitement about this unique class has grown so has the entries . This year there were 60 horses entered in this class for unshown Two Year Old Trail Pleasure hopefuls . The outstanding number of entries resulted in a 4 way split of the class . Each “ split ” A-B-C-D had 20 horses . Eight were picked to return to the final . Just getting picked to be in the final was considered a great achievement as the talent represented in these splits was enormous . When each split was lined up the horses selected to return to the final were announced but in numerical order NOT in the order that the Judges had placed them . The audience is on
pins and needles as the numbers are announced and approach their favorite ’ s number---will that number be called out or passed over ? This adds to the excitement and of course adds to the pre-judging by the spectators as they try to figure out which horse a trainer with more than one entry will ride in the final . Having multiple entries by one barn or one trainer causes great stress for both owners and trainers . A spectator wonders if a trainer was “ holding back ” just trying to make the final or did a trainer use all his / her horse had in the qualifying class to get in the final ? If the horse gave it it ’ s all in the qualifying class would it not perform as well in the final ! We shall see ! AND the excitement builds !
This year there were 60 horses who were entered thus making for a four way split of wonderfully talented young flat shod horses . From the 4 qualifying classes these gifted horses made the cut . In numerical order they are :
Just Say Jose and Keegan Meadows , New Boot Goofin ’ and Ryne White , Dixie ’ s Last Resort and Taylor Harvey . One Hellva View and Crystal Deputy , Diva By Daddy and Crystal Deputy , Parking Lot Party and Joe Lester , Lined Up At The Border and Joe Lester , Quesadilla and Joe Lester , Everything Good and Joe Lester , Josie Escalido and Mackenzie Morgan , Mia ’ s Gin and Zack Parsons , Shady and Black and David Mast , The Red Martini and Morgan Applewhite , Cash Kid and David Mast , GiGi ’ s Code Red and David Mast , A Silver Lining and Alan Calendar , Just Like Fire and Kyle Elliott , Downpour and Laurie Toone , Senora Sophia and Laurie Toone , Sweet Walking Matilda and Laurie Toone , She ’ s Venomous and Krista Allen , Hold My Crown and Bobby Richards , She ’ s Kadillac Kate and Josh Patterson , Imagine Dragons and Hannah Myatt , The Wicked Cool and Alex Sinden , M-Imem and Hannah Myatt , Out Of The Badlands and Victoria Kalosis , Sunshine and Diamond and Dickie Gardner ,
16 • Walking On