Midnight Merry & Steve Hill win the World Championship in 1949
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
1957 Letter to Celebration Manager
* From "The Blue Ribbon", 1957
MR. SAM GIBBONS, MANAGER
NATIONAL WALKING HORSE CELEBRATION
SHELBYVILLE, TENNESSEE
Dear Sam,
Save our box for the Celebration. Frances will send you a check when she gets to it. I reckon there have been some times when we couldn't afford the Celebration, but doggone, we made it anyhow.
Linda got our our Jimmy Richardson records, you know, our "Horse Show" records, on Christmas Eve so we have been kinda getting ready for the Celebration ever since. Of course, we have some other records. Sometimes we listen to Elvis, sometimes Little Richard, mostly right now Tommy Sands and Sonny James. But back to the Celebration.
Sam, I think I oughta tell how how this Clemmons family feels about the Celebration. You know, in 1947, just after I got out of the Navy, maybe six or seven months, I first heard about the Celebration. Well, compared to Navy pay, the money I was making then was sure 'nuff amazing. So Frances and I hired a baby sitter for Philip and Terry, rented a plane, and flew up to Shelbyville. Planned on watching the show on Friday night and then flying on home on Saturday morning. The bug didn't quite bite us but it started gnawing. The next morning, instead of flying home, we figured we might as well spend another day. We had read the ad about "101 Walking Horses" so we called the number. I reckon the same thing has happened to countless thousands of people. We were picked up in front of the hotel in a Cadillac--I believe we stepped on a red velvet carpet to get in--and then the pitch started. We walked all over the pastures and actually didn't plan on buying a thing. Both of us felt kinda guilty though not buying anything after we had been given such royal treatment. Of course the next day, by mid-afternoon, Frances and I both had warmed up to the horse business. Saw a beautiful black mare. Decided we wanted her. Sam, remember how it used to be when some guy like me who didn't know siccum about horses would get right in the middle of a group of horsemen? I guess they just don't do it that way any more, but believe me it sure used to impress me when somebody would say, "Now this little mare is a half sister to the World's Champion Walking Horse." Sometimes it was an uncle or a great aunt or even a daughter, but it used to amaze me that the Champion could have so many relatives. Well, this particular day, Frances and I liked this mare. Forgotten how she was related to the Champion. Must have been feeling good. Had a couple of bucks. Wanted to buy a horse.
Well, one of my new found friends said flat footedly, "Now here's a mare that has real show horse ways." And we figured that was something pretty good so we bought her. Well, if "show horse ways" amounts to trying to paw down the barn, trying to hug you with both front legs every time you walk in the stall, snapping her teeth at you every time you got within twenty feet of her, that mare had "show horse ways." She didn't worry me too much when she bit Terry on the head, didn't worry me too much when she knocked Philip down, didn't worry me too much when she fell over backwards and broke Frances's leg, didn't worry me too much when J.A. Till said he absolutely wouldn't ride her, but I'll tell you, Sam, the day she tried to paw ME I decided I better get rid of her. Traded her off by telling some folks she had "show horse ways."
Of course, color and age are always good selling points. If a man wants to buy a black horse, no matter what the color is now, that horse will be black by the times it's five. Or, if a potential customer wants a five year old, then every horse in the barn will suddenly oblige and have a birthday.
What do we know about the Celebration? I reckon with Frances and me, then Vera May, her mother who lives with us, Philip who is now fourteen, Terry twelve, then Linda age six, Jane age two, and now Hank who is just about a year old, the Clemmons family probably has attended as many years of Celebration as any other family. Sure, some of the old timers have us beat, but I'm talking about total years of family attendance. Our total time at the Celebration is fifty-four years. Of course, this counts one year that Linda attended before she was born and a year each that Jane and Hank were present before they were born.
Sam, I don't reckon there is anybody in the world who doesn't like something. Some folks may not like horses; but they may like athletics, they may like people, they may like food, they may like drama, they make like music, they may like fresh air and sunshine---and rain---sometimes lots of rain. They can get them all at the Celebration! And I swear they'll end up liking the whole shebang if they attend one time.
Actually, a horse show is an athletic event with a lotta color and showmanship. If there's an individual in the United States who can attend the Celebration on Saturday night---watch five or six great horses hit that ring about midnight, watch 25,000 people act like crazy---and not be impressed---he better call the undertaker. He just ain't interested in living.
Remember? Carl Edwards used to come in on Big Man with Carl's head nodding every time Big Man's head nodded--the year that all horsemen kept gathering at the gate and adjusting their bridles---folks started calling it the filling station---Winston Wiser was so full of electricity sometimes you could see sparks---the time that Steve Hill and George Witt rode shoulder to shoulder and George was getting madder and Steve was getting smugger and we thought sure enough there would be a fight that night. But there wasn't. They were still friends when it was over. Or the time that it looked to me like Vic Thompson was determined to make Winston Wiser's horse break and sure enough he did. Then they both laughed. Then both went to showing their horses.
The noise a coca cola bottle makes rolling down out of the grandstand. Big Tom Fulton on a big horse, showing that horse every step around the ring. Jack Darnell, an amateur, staying right in there with the big boys. Mr. Sanderson, always with a string of good horses. Skipper from Texas doing the flat foot walk. The smell of Absorbine, Jr. Country ham so salty you have to get up every hour all night to get a drink (of water). The night Bob Hughes did his own horse shoeing right out in the middle of the ring and then announced to the public in general that it took Bull of the Woods and Jack Daniels to hold up to this life. Bobby and Eddie Wiser, Doug Stubblefield, Doug Wolaver, Seline Garrett, showing ponies.
The lady in the box next to us with so many mink stoles and not objecting at all when Linda insisted on patting the fur with coke-sticky hands. Ed Ezell, Sr. dignified and honest. Carson Kidwell wearing a flat straw hat. Florida Queen Cigars. Beech and Go Boy Colts. Cadillacs. The Heinz girls. Celia Shruptrine and Judy Frost. Dr. Hardeman, senior citizen. The monotony of the special attraction by Friday night. Mud splattered faces all the way around the ring. Mud, mud and more mud. The Pachal front end on a horse. Zollie Derryberry who could make a mule nod his head.
The night the Tennessee Highway patrolman caught me for speeding and ended up selling me a horse trailer. The night the road horse got loose and everybody thought he would kill himself and lots of people. Clyde Tune in tune with everybody. Betty and Ed Ezell almost agreeing on a horse. White Star lapel buttons and the accompanying frenzy. The Texas cheering section. "Dixie" played by Jimmy Richardson. Mabron Magnusson still a bachelor. J.G. Walker built close to the ground.
White horse with the stars and stripes. A loose rabbit in the ring. Pocket knives and cedar wood. Tennessee politicians. Go Boy vs. Sun. Honest judges; sometimes blind, but honest. Harold Wise and Jack Warren, knowing they had the best mare in the world. The Murray Sale (every horse bred just like you like him and broke for a two-year-old girl to ride on a highway next to the railroad tracks)
The night I showed Lace and didn't get in the money but sure got in the mud. The night Frances showed her Fine Harness Mare; mortaged horse; borrowed buggy; borrowed harness; and a hat that I paid forty-five bucks for. The year Philip and Terry had Mohawk hair cuts and got their pictures in the Nashville pater---Millions of other memories
Sure, Sam, the Clemmons family will be there. We'll load both cars with bicycles, makings for iced tea, baby food, disposable diapers, play pen, comic books, clothes for hot weather and clothes for cold weather, and raincoats, don't ever forget your raincoat 'cause one night it's sure enough going to rain. We'll get to the Sportsman's Motel Sunday afternoon before the Celebration starts. As usual we'll have cabins No. 1, 2, and 3. Ralph and Peg McAdams will be happy to see us. We'll be at the Celebration every day and every night. We'll eat country ham and hamburgers about every two hours. Every night after the show we'll congregate in one of the rooms, drink and little iced tea, and argue with Bobo, Dr. Taylor and Robert, Amy and Orval Willoughby, and our friends from Mobile, the family from Ohio, two couples from Minnesota will completely rehash the entire evening show. Then we'll sleep two or three hours and wake up bright and early so we won't miss a thing.
Yeah, Sam, we're coming to the Celebration and we're gonna stay in the horse business. It's the most pleasant way we know to spend a lot of money---or just to have fun!
Yours truly,
Lowell H. Clemmons, Sr., M.D.
Husband of Frances
Son-in-law of Vera May
Father of Philip, Terry, Linda, Jane, Lowell Henry, Jr, (Hank)
Office Hours 8-5 except during the National Walking Horse Celebration
Photography by John T. Morriss M.D.---my obliging partner who doesn't even know which way a horse is supposed to go
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
GIOVANNI
Giovanni 370291, picture taken when the horse was 29 years old in 1939. At the reins is Tom Brown of Columbia, Tennessee who then owned Giovanni. Mr. Brown said he collected the breeding fees on 26 colts after the 1939 season.
from "The Tennessee Walking Horse"
Reprinted in Voice Magazine, Vol. 12, No. 1
EDITOR'S NOTE: William J. McGill was once called "Biographer of the Century" for the Tennessee Walking Horse. He and his brother, A.B. McGill, were for many years active in the Robinson-McGill Mills in Shelbyville. He was the first chairman of the Blue Ribbon Yearbook, and he wrote many articles for the old Tennessee Walking Horse Magazine published by Jimmy Joe Murray. The following is one of those articles. Mr. McGill died in 1949.
GIOVANNI 370291
by W.J. McGill
When Editor Lee of "The Tennessee Walking Horse" asked for another article on prominent sires of the Tennessee Walking Horse breed and GIOVANNI 370291 was suggested, frankly I admit, I wasn't so enthusiastic over it as we usually are on approaching Christmas holidays. But when I conferred with some of our leading prominent horsemen, three owners of GIOVANNI, Henry Davis, Steve Hill and Tom Brown, and then Fred Walker, Winston Wiser and others who had experience in training and showing his offspring; well these top horsemen and trainers soon had me thinking that GIOVANNI was a superior horse and had made a great contribution to our Tennessee Walkers though he had originated from the saddle or gaited horses.
When I asked Henry Davis why he purchased GIOVANNI in the long ago, he readily responded that in his training days and whenb he was showing Tennessee Walking Horses, he noted the celebrated gaited stallion, McDONALD'S CHIEF, and his offspring would frequently leave the arena in the gaited class in an amble and Walking Horse stride. So when he read in the old "Farmer's Home Journal" of this grandson, GIOVANNI, being offered for sale, he went with a group of our horsemen, Albert Dement, Joe Crawford, Jim Miller, Hall Jones, Walter Woods and ohters, to Kentucky and Henry bought GIOVANNI; the others filling in a car load of Kentucky horses. When I remembered that I had had a gelding and a mare with McDONALD'S CHIEF bloodline and how well they could walk regardless of their five-gaited breeding, I readily concluded that Henry Davis was a wise selector of breeding stallions.
He bought GIOVANNI 370291 in the spring of 1914 from John Buster of Harrodsburg, Kentucky. He had been bred by William A. Wade at Versailles, Ky. GIOVANNI was sired by DANDY JIM, ASR 1531, one of the most beautiful stallions and he was sired by the famous McDONALD'S CHIEF. THE dam of GIOVANNI was FRANCESCA, ASR 6940. GIOVANNI'S saddle horse or gaited breeding was perfect and he possessed a great deal of style and stamina.While his tail was never set, no horse surpassed him in style. He was also upheaded, a beautiful head, neck and ears, large expressive eyes, a perfect shoulder, but some would say that his back had one vertebra too many; but as his back was short the bad coupling caused this appearance. His color wand markings were good, a small star and white coronets, excellent mane and tail.
GIOVANNI was foaled in June, 1910, and was put to death i May, 1940, having sired 26 colts at the age of 29. He was noted for his stamina, style and good qualities. And records show that GIOVANNI continued a productive sire a few years longer than most of our horses. He did not die a natural death at the age of 30, but was thought to be no longer serviceable and so he was put to death. In all this he emphasizes his great endurance and stamina, and those qualities are recognized by his bloodlines through two to four generations.
GIOVANNI'S first season was made in the Middle Tennessee area IN 1914 and 55 mares were brought to his court. Forty-seven of them produced colts, however, his owner, Henry Davis, recognized that many of these mares came to GIOVANNI's court on account of the friendship to the owner and not on account of the admiration to the sire. In a few years, Henry Davis noted that many of the buyers that came to his barn in search of good Tennessee Walking Horses would specify some GIOVANNI blood, and some of his breeders have stated that they preferred the second generation of his colts rather than the first; however, I am not sure that the records will sustain this idea because many horses sired by him made enviable careers and show records. There are so many of these that I hesitate to direct your attention to them for fear of leaving off some important ones, but thinking it would be justly due the old sire, I will enumerate some that come to mind.
SPIDER, that great Walking Horse owned and ridden by Henry Davis and successfully shown by him two years, will not soon be forgotten by the patrons of the numerous fairs where he was shown. SPIDER was a large horse, sired by GIOVANNI, his dam the celebrated mare, DUTCH, by old BLACK ALLEN that was successfully shown by Joe Crawford. joe continues to think she is the greatest Walking mare the Middle Tennessee country has ever produced. While she was a successful breeder, producing several good colts including LITTLE DUTCH and others, it is usually recognized that SPIDER, by GIOVANNI, was her best colt.
After two years of successful showing by Henry Davis and winning the championship at the Tennessee state Fair in 1922, SPIDER was sold at a large price to Lee wilson of Wilson, Arkansas, and he rode him for a number of years on his large plantation. SPIDER was about 16 hands high, weighed 1230 pounds, Black when not sunburned, good conformation, style, long stride, Henry could walk SPIDER to Shelbyville, 10 miles, from Wartrace, in an hour and return the same way. Hill Walker bred SPIDER from old DUTCH, sired by ALLAN F-1, before she was sold to Joe Crawford.
Another of our good horsemen, the noted Joe Crawford, of the gaited horse fame, is also a booster for GIOVANNI. Joe gives credit to GIOVANNI for teaching him to ride gaited horses and further states that GIOVANNI and ROE'S CHIEF both saddlebred horses, are the only stallions that he has ever known that would sire Tennessee walking Horses, although it was necessary to mate them with our Walking mares in order to get Walking colts. Each of these stallions sired some good Tennessee Walking Horses when mated with the right Walking mares.
Likely the GIOVANNI colt with the greatest show record was JONES' SIR MACALVANNI 350054. MACALVANNI was named by Henry Davis when owned by Charles Kempkau and he had an unheard of record of 113 blue ribbons in 115 shows. MACALVANNI'S dam was WALKERS LIETHA 360090, A HUNTER'S ALLEN F-10 mare. These famous HUNTER'S ALLEN F-10 mares produced well with GIOVANNI as you will note from other records. SIR MACALVANNI was burned in the Clyde Westbrook Mississippi fire. He was fully recognized as one of the greatest show horses of the age.
GIOVANNI sired a trio-three full sisters - from the great Z.R. Pickens' mare, MARY ALLEN 360101, and she was by HUNTER'S ALLEN. The first, foaled in 1929, MARGARET SUE 350064, a roan mare with white markings and a great show mare was sold by Henry Davis to a California buyer. The second, foaled 1931, WALKING DREAM 360100, a sorrel mare with white stockings, was sold to Hayne's Haven by Z.R. Pickens, Jr., their breeder. The third, a red sorrel mare with beautiful white markings shown by our breeder, Z.R. Pickens, Jr., was SPRINGTIME 350147, foaled in 1933, a winner at the Tennessee State Fair and now owned by Dr. George Garrett of Shreveport, Louisiana. These three full sisters, richly colored and marked and with perfect conformation, are a credit to the Tennessee Walking Horse breed.
Another fine GIOVANNI mare that gave good account of herself was JUNE KNIGHT 350036, owned by Charles Kempkau, a black mare bred by the late Albert Dement from SNIP 350038. SNIP's dam was the renowned MERRY LEGS F-4, sired by old ROAN ALLEN F-38. SNIP was sired by GREY LAD, by BRAMBLETT F-9, a great horse of the GREY JOHN breeding. He was also in the stud for Henry Davis in 1926 and 1927 and sired some good Walkers.
After Henry sold GIOVANNI, his next horse in 1916 was RED ALLEN, a good breeder for him for a year or two, but in 1917, Davis began with MITCH F-5 and continued with him five years. He, too, was a great breeder, the sire of MAJOR ALLEN and old BUD and others that are recognized as good breeders. Henry usually had a good stallion or two that would produce Walkers and he knew good ones, as demonstrated in his selecting GIOVANNI against the judgement of some of our best horsemen.
The former good horseman, the late Jim Miller, had a sorrel GIOVANNI horse that was a Tennessee State Fair champion that he showed as a four-to six-year-old from 1923 to 1925. He and a sister were sold to Pennsylvania parties and they continued good show careers. BRUCE FISHER was another of GIOVANNI colts that as a five-year-old in Kentucky was a good winner. Winston Wiser came into the arena about that time and as a13- and 14-year-old, he showed DIMPLES by GIOVANNI. As a two-year-old, Winston won with her at the old Shelbyville fair and then DIMPLES was a grand champion at Wartrace, an unusual record as a two-year-old. He sold her for $350, a top price in those days.
Another horse that Wiser likes to reflect on was DAN, a sorrel horse that he showed about 1924. His dam was WISER'S MINNIE, by old BLACK ALLAN. This BLACK ALLAN mare had an enviable show record, and also was WISER'S DIMPLES, the dam of MERRY GO BOY. Here again Wiser succeeds with an offspring of GIOVANNI. Winston says he could win easily with DIMPLES now, just as he could with old DAN.
While DAN and WISER'S DIMPLES were from WISER'S MINNIE, by ALLAN F-1 and both sired by GIOVANNI, MERRY GO BOY was a second generation or a grandson of GIOVANNI from WISER'S DIMPLES. Needless to say, the above horses enthused and helped to make the good showman, Winston Wiser, and while the other second generation from GIOVANNI, there is none that has surpassed the twice grand champion, MERRY GO BOY. But it all demonstrates that the blood of GIOVANNI carries on.
GIOVANNI was about 15.1 hands, approximately 1100 pounds, a good driving and riding horse with much endurance and a fair show horse. He was very kind and gentle, and while old BLACK ALLAN gave stamina, endurance and quality to our present day Walkers, this was all further increased by GIOVANNI. He too, contributed stamina and qualities. GIOVANNI made his first season here in 1914 at Henry Davis' barn at Wartrace and was sold to John S. Davis, Jr., who in turn sold him to R.T. Walker and Walker made seasons with him continuously from 191 through 1930. Davis bought the horse again, making the seasons of 1931 and 1932 and sold him to that good horseman, Steve Hill, in the spring of 1933. Steve kept him two or three seasons, selling to Clyde Westbrooks in Mississippi, and he sold him to Tom Brown at Columbia, Tennessee when GIOVANNI was 29 years old, for $250. Early the next spring, Brown sold him back to Westbrooks for $300, and he lived until May, 1940, when he no longer seemed serviceable and was put to death. However, GIOVANNI sired 26 colts when he was 29 years old, a longer record in the stud than most any of our stallions.
All the owners and users of GIOVANNI refer to him as a satisfactory using horse, no bad habits. He was always kind and a most satisfactory mannered horse. Two or three of Bob Walker's children used him for a school horse. I have been unable to find anyone who knew him or his descendants that would dare criticize him. His colts and grand-colts were always in demand and usually sold to out-of-state buyers. They soon learned that the GIOVANNI blood was desirable and they often inquired of Henry Davis if he could furnish them with horses that traced to him.
If GIOVANNI were living today and near human as most of those well acquainted with him thought him to be, I would take off my hat to him and apologize for not thinking he was the peer of any sire of the Tennessee Walking Horse breed. I have never traced a horse that has persistently shown a better record and stand than GIOVANNI.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
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