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Tennessee
Walking Horse OnLine Congratulates
Adult
Supreme Champion
Joan Winsor,
Washington
Investment Genius
By Joan Winsor
I think my heart stopped! I know I didn't breathe for at least two
minutes. The auctioneer had banged down his gavel: 'SOLD - -to the lady in
the white hat'. Someone handed me the lead rope to the terrified yearling
stallion, who looked down at me from what seemed to be ten feet up. They
said Smile. SMILE! I was in a white skirt and open toed shoes. I needed a
phone FAST to do some serious rearranging in my bank account. I had an
economy rental car, and one airline ticket home. United was not going to
be happy about this new piece of baggage I needed to get 2,500 miles home.
Gratefully I accepted Harlinsdale's offer to keep him until I could make
arrangements (and pull myself together).
It had really never occurred to me that I would be the successful bidder.
I'd been drooling over the magnificent, bright blood-bay, nimble footed
stallion for days before Harlinsdale Sale, but those on the inside said
that someone with a lot more money than I have wanted him. But when it
came right down to it he wasn't totally out of reach. Now what to do?
Fortunately, my friend and mentor, Diane Gueck came to the rescue, and
calmly found a place for him with her show horses at the Celebration.
Climbing into her big trailer he suddenly looked very small, young, thin
and fragile. (He has been back to that Celebration stall he first so
fearfully entered, but he returned as a proud, accomplished, mature
stallion. I wonder if he remembers how unsure we both were in that stall
all those years ago?)
When he first made his way home to Washington he was so tall and thin I
nicknamed him after my brother Charlie, who is 6'5. I had two Adult
Supreme Versatility Champions, and I dreamed Charlie might have what it
takes, too. But could I handle a young stallion of his blue-blooded
breeding? I think I knew that first month we could do it! He was
incredibly sensitive, intelligent, happy, willing, and loved to have
people doing almost anything to him, as long as they were paying attention
to HIM. Barefoot he gaited up a storm. Could he canter? Almost in place!
It was one of the most amazing canters on a TWH I'd seen, and it was all
completely natural.
To reach his full potential he needed to spend a year or so with Diane
Gueck, learn to be consistent and behave himself at horse shows. But she
(not a great fan of unschooled or spoiled young stallions) said he had to
be broke to death before she would take him on. Easy! Within no time at
all I sent her a tape of Charlie gaiting on the rail like he was the only
horse in the world, during a nightmare lunch break at a local horse show
with 30 horses going every which way, out of control kids on mares
whizzing under his nose, reining horses sliding into him, and an
occasional hoof aimed his way. I sarcastically sent a note with the tape:
Is this broke enough? So he was on his way!
But there was a major problem! He was terrified of microphones, enclosed
places, yelling and applause. And I knew Why! He had been even more
frightened at that yearling auction than I! I knew we could ride him or
drive him right through the center of New York City at rush hour, but it
was years before I could count on his standing still indoors at halter or
in a line-up. He suffered years of tapes playing in his stall, blasting
sounds of crowds clapping; he stood parked a dozen times a day in hundreds
of different, obnoxious settings. And he must have downed a truck load of
carrots awarded when he could finally make himself stand still. But would
it have been worth the triumph without some real obstacle? (I have framed
the Walking Horse Report's comment on the '96 Plantation Model Stallion
World Championship, in which he was fourth; And Investment Genius stood
like a rock. Little did they know!) And now I can frame a real treasure;
the certificate as the 1996 Model High Point horse in the TWHBEA
Versatility Program. That's a LOT of standing still!
In the fall of 1995, Charlie earned his Supreme Versatility Championship,
the right to have his picture on the wall in Lewisburg, and, in this new
era, to be listed on the WWW!
That should be enough for a horse to have to do. Already there were young
Charlies and Charliettes on the ground, showing their sire's promise. But
there is no rest for the talented!
It was Diane's fault. She needed a co-driver to make the long pilgrimage
from Portland to Tennessee with her string of show horses bound for the
International and the Celebration. How could my arm be twisted hard enough
to drive all night! She offered to throw Charlie in the load, although he
was firmly entrenched in the versatility ranks, on sliding plates behind
and keg shoes in front. (Not your basic show horse usually shipped that
far for those shows.) But, for the first time, both the International and
Celebration would have a full slate of versatility classes with High Point
awards. This would be what I consider the true test of a TWH as it was
originally conceived and bred. Can it do EVERYTHING, and do it well?
But fate wasn't going to make it easy! I had to have surgery on a knee;
then Charlie was rushed to Davis for surgery on a jaw abscess from an old
injury; then, despite an ultrasound, twins were born, saddling the farm
with three critically ill horses requiring 24 hour intensive care. There
was darn little time left to train Charlie for his great return to
Tennessee. But somehow Ken Siefer, the W/W's talented resident
manager/trainer, kept Charlie fit, and working on what he would have to do
in Tennessee, while both of us tackled the disasters, the foaling, the
breedings, etc. and I staggered through one of the busiest summers ever at
my regular job. Some of the events Charlie would have to do were totally
new for him. (Tiny little gaps in his training -like obstacle driving and
jumping!) I estimated he had one good month of training. That's all we
could give him. Multiple times I decided he should just be left home!
But I did mention he's a smart cookie didn't I? He entered 20
International and Celebration classes; he won 20 ribbons. He won the
International Western Trail Pleasure Championship, and the Trail Pleasure
Grand Championship. He won the Celebration Trail Pleasure and Trail
Obstacle World Championships. He was the International Versatility High
Point Horse, and the Celebration High Point Reserve Horse.
But the sign that hangs on his stall door reads only TWHBEA SUPREME
VERSATILITY CHAMPION. That says enough: Yes, I can do it all!
Now you can retire, Charlie, and be Lord of the Manor. (Well, there is
that cattle drive coming up this spring).
Both of us remember so well the shock of that fateful day the gavel came
down. How could we know it would be the greatest day of our lives!
(Reprinted from Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse
magazine, March, 1997)
Adult Supreme Champions
Youth Superior Champions
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