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Tennessee
Walking Horse OnLine Congratulates
Adult
Supreme Champion
Tina Frady for
Jackie Singleton, Tennessee
Mr. Copper Top
By Tina Singleton Frady
A Rich Woman's Horse
The life of Mr. Coppertop began when Jim and Jackie Singleton, my parents,
bred the 1977 Two-Year-Old State Futurity Champion, Delight's Good Lady to
the multi-World Champion, Prides Generator. When Mr. Coppertop was a colt,
I lived in Georgia with my husband and only visited Tennessee once a
month. My parents encouraged me to show Casey's Sure Hit that summer. I
always showed halter colts, never had I shown in a saddle class other than
4-H and Saddle Club shows when I was little. Well, that one time was
enough to know I loved it. Later that fall I moved home to Nolensville to
go through the inevitable divorce. Eileen Reynolds Jr. saw Casey's Sure
Hit at a Funday and wanted to come out to ride him. One ride and they were
inseparable. After selling him, I began to work on my life and getting out
on my own, during which time Mr. Coppertop would grow into a handsome two
year old.
I wish I could take the credit for being the first to ride him, actually
it was Robert Williams. He grew up watching us breaking colts to ride.
Robert took my place when I moved away and helped my parents get colts
started under saddle. I still remember the day Robert and I were racing on
Lots-A-Cash, now owned by Mariella Fuggar, and Mr. Coppertop in the hay
field. Mr. Coppertop was keeping up with me and Cash, but what I was the
most excited to see was that head just shaking away. I had never seen that
much natural headshake on a horse before. From then on I knew he would be
something great.
After getting my life back together, I found the time to get back involved
in the TWH business helping my parents. The plan was to get Mr. Coppertop
ring broke for my mom to show. Yeah, right! After our first show at the VA
Center in Murfreesboro, Mr. Coppertop and I would become inseparable.
Our first year of show ring competition was light mainly competing in
two-gaited English classes. We firmly believe that a horse must learn the
proper gaits before trying any other disciplines. Truth be known, that's
all we knew until we kept seeing Casey's Sure Hit and Eileen Reynolds Jr.
showing in anything and everything. I really must say that if any one
person is responsible for getting me and Mr. Coppertop involved in
versatility, she's the one. Eileen would encourage me to try new things
with Mr. Coppertop and even teach us how she performed a lot of her
maneuvers. It really opened a lot of doors for me, thinking of the show
ring as a place to show off your horse, and boy did we! Eileen and I
became competitors, each of us getting better every class.
It really wasn't until Mr. Coppertop was three that we became really
involved in versatility. The canter was the most time consuming thing to
teach him. My parents simply wanted it perfect. The book says a slow,
rhythmic rocking chair canter, not just another gallop like Mr. Coppertop
originally thought. I almost think it was harder on me than him. Don't
forget this is the first show horse I've trained to this level; there's a
big difference in this and just kid broke. During this time I was also
practicing western pleasure. He soon found out he didn't have to work as
hard western; we had to quit practicing western at home. He is naturally a
lazy kind of guy, but can go all day because he doesn't waste all of his
energy fretting.
His three-year-old year was fast becoming a very good year for us in the
show ring. Mr. Coppertop became the winningest horse at the 1992
International with eight firsts and five reserves. Everyone kept saying,
"Aren't you tired of winning yet?" "Why, heck no. Would you be?" I really
was looking forward to the Celebration after this and entered 10 classes,
both performance and versatility. I really wanted to go for the
Celebration Super Horse Award. Well, we came away with a ribbon in most
classes and that was great, but then we received third in the Super Horse
Competition, I was overwhelmed to be in the top five with my amateur owned
and trained, three-year-old stallion!
Becoming famous as a top contender in the lite-shod division means
prospective buyers. This is when I found out just how much this little
horse means to me. My dad was approached by a few buyers and they all
wanted to geld him for a youth rider or their wife, after all, a stallion
is more restricted than a gelding in our industry. We all felt that
gelding this natural, head shaking lite shod Tennessee Walking Horse would
be a big mistake for the breed. Our family has been breeding TWHs for over
40 years and never raised a horse as correct in every way as Mr.
Coppertop. It only took three generations of breeding Midnight Sun, to
Sun's Delight to Prides Generator.
This is truly a family horse: Dad is farrier, breeder, part-time trainer,
groundman, exhibitor, caretaker, owner and groom. Mom is part-time
trainer, breeder, groundman, veterinarian, exhibitor, caretaker, owner and
groom. I am exhibitor, trainer, groom, caregiver and a very grateful
relative of the owners! That's called amateur owned and trained.
My dad was coaching us one day as I was working Mr. Coppertop in the
riding field. After we worked for a few minutes and stopped to rest, my
dad said "How does it feel to be riding a rich girl's horse?"
"What does that mean?" I asked and he replied "It means only rich girls
get to ride horses as nice as Mr. Coppertop." I never forgot that day
because I knew one day someone else was going to own him. That's why I'll
never get too many ribbons of any color and never show in too many
classes. A horse like Mr. Coppertop comes along but once in a lifetime and
even then only to those who can afford to acquire one. So, you will never
hear me say to anyone "Haven't you won enough ribbons yet" because their
horse may be just as special as Mr. Coppertop is to me. You never know how
long you will have that relationship, so enjoy it while you can.
I never thought about High Point Programs until I watched Eileen and Sure
Hit win just about all of them. In 1995 we completed the WHOA ROM program,
the first to get my feet wet, other than the PWHAT program. I really
learned a lot about earning points and taught Mr. Coppertop a lot also.
The TWHBEA program was totally out of reach for us because of the rule
prohibiting the counting of any points at a show if you exhibited the same
horse in both two- and three-gaited classes. I felt this was
discriminating against the truly versatile horse. After the rule changed
and you could show in both and only one discipline counted, I entered one
of the last High Point programs available to us.
We really enjoyed showing at all breed shows, because of the variety of
entries. At all breed shows I feel as if we're on exhibition because
everyone is in awe of all the different things Mr. Coppertop can do and do
well. The Festival of Horses is a multi-breed show with three or more
different breed judges. Our second year of showing there resulted in Mr.
Coppertop becoming the first Tennessee Walking Horse to be crowned as the
Grand Performance Horse. In years to come Mr. Coppertop won this title
three times. The stamina of a walking horse was really put to the test at
this show as we would show in 28 classes over a 2 1/2 day weekend!!
Even though the Festival was one of the most versatile shows of the year,
most of the versatility points earned have come from PWHAT shows. The
PWHAT members have become the most competitive in the business, even the
Celebration and International classes have seen a domination of Pleasure
Walking Horse Association of Tennessee members in the top five. Mr.
Coppertop is among those consistently in the top five and has achieved the
Association's top honors of Overall High Point horse in 1993, 1994, and
1995. I elected to pull him from the program so that others with
consistently great horses could also enjoy this honor in our Association.
PWHAT also voted Mr. Coppertop Horse of the Year in 1995, 1996 and 1997. I
have always thought of Mr. Coppertop as my choice for this award, but when
the people that we compete against think of him in this way, it means more
to me than all of the high point awards.
In 1994 a lot of great things happened for us but winning a World Champion
title had to be one of the most exciting. My dad won our family's first WC
title in 1975 on Goodtime Spirit in the first Amateur/Owned and Trained
class. Who would have guessed that I would win on Mr. Coppertop in the
first Amateur Trail Pleasure class. Oh, just 19 years later! !! Since
then, I have continued to show at the Celebration and do very well
considering the competition. The Obstacle Trail class is one I have always
thought to be my favorite at the Celebration. Our record is as follows:
1992/8th, '93/4th, '94/8th, '95/3rd, and '96/7th. Sometimes things go
right and sometimes not. In 1997 things went right all the way to first
place. Another World Champion title for the amateur/owned and trained team
that just never gave up.
Showing isn't his only specialty! We perform exhibitions from time to
time, we trail ride once in a while and have even put a parade on our
resume. In his off season the grandchildren get to take rides on him for
Christmas. Mr. Coppertop lives the life of luxury, turned out in a grassy
field daily and put up in his own barn in front of the house insures him
any attention from visitors. Some people give their horse carrots to show
their appreciation and love. Mr. Coppertop doesn't eat carrots but just
loves to roll in the muddiest spot in the field every day. I may have to
scrub a little harder to make him shine like a Coppertop battery, but to
see him happy as a horse makes it all worth it.
Fortunately, I met someone that has the same interest in the business as I
do . . . Carolyn Logue of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I needed to find
someone to haul Mr. Coppertop to the Tampa show and was given her name to
call. She didn't want to go unless someone would go with her to split
expenses and driving time. How fortunate can you get? Since we met we have
traveled to many out of state shows: Tampa, FL, Lexington, VA, New Castle,
IN, Springfield, IL, and our most recent was Perry, GA. At one of the
shows, Mr. Coppertop was given the nickname "The Wonder Horse" after they
saw him show in 28 classes. They had never seen a TWH exhibit in so many
classes. If you show in versatility classes, your horse isn't competitive
in the rail classes, so they thought until they met Mr. Coppertop. Even
though we win a lot of classes, they always invite us back to their show
so they can watch Mr. Coppertop perform again. One of the things that
makes our career so exciting is seeing how others react to one of our
performances and walk the trailers to find us, just to tell us they
thought we were great! That means a lot to me.
In 1996 Mr. Coppertop was recognized as a Diamond Supreme Champion, 100
blue ribbons since the WHTA started the program in the spring of 1995.
After all of these accomplishments, there was still one that lurked in the
future, so I had hoped anyway. We had never won a major Championship class
other than in Illinois. In 1997, after I began to think this would never
happen again, the International proved to be almost a repeat of our 1992
year. We were first in Lite Shod Driving, Amateur Lite Shod Three-Gait and
A/O/T Western Lite Shod Two-Gait. Then we won the 1997 Owner/Amateur
Trained Lite Shod Two-Gait Grand Championship class! I couldn't believe it
was happening. Mr. Coppertop almost tripped on the floral horseshoe in our
victory pass and I was full of tears of joy. When we got outside they
wanted our picture but we had to do a tack change in one class and also go
back through the DQP. My dad said we "didn't have time for a picture" and
I stopped and said "Yes we do; this only happens once in a lifetime and
we're getting a picture!"
With such a career as we have had, I could go on forever about this
wonderful little horse, but this story has to come to an end and the only
way to end it is to say "We'll be back." In addition to showing, Mr.
Coppertop has sired colts for a couple of years. His first offspring will
be in the ring this year and I must say, I see another couple of "wonder
horses" coming our way. The only problem is which one do we show you
first? Yes, I can say I'm the rich girl! You see, Mr. Coppertop made me
feel like the richest of the rich through every ride!
Thank you, Sis [Osborne], for all that you have given to the versatility
of this breed. Unless you have shown in versatility or put on a show for
versatility, you just won't appreciate all that Sis has accomplished. Even
though the Celebration didn't keep the versatility classes as part of
their show, I know it won't slow Sis down in developing other avenues to
get the word out that, "Yes, a Tennessee Walking Horse can do more than
ride the big oval!"
Reprinted from Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse
magazine, June, 1998
Adult Supreme Champions
Youth Superior Champions
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