…a buyers guide for those who can stand the truth and want to play this TENNESSEE WALKING HORSE business on a higher level!
Many of you walking horse pilgrims will travel to Shelbyville each year and gather at local horse auctions
and attempt to select a few yearling prospects to take to a trainer and start.
Some of you will be escorted by your greed infested trainers, most of whom
wouldn’t know a good colt if it got loose on the grounds and kicked his car. I
have compiled a few, brutally truthful, rules and guidelines that should
improve your chances at picking that perfect prospect! But remember…getting the
right colt is a 100% gamble. You have a better chance winning the MISS AMERICA
title….at least you would have a 1 in 50 chance.
LETS BEGIN!!!!
RULE 1. This rule never fails….the nicer the sales facility…the better the
food…the worse the colts ! All these
Disneyland outfits keep you cool, feed you well, and send you home with a
trailer load of high priced plugs that will give you 90 days of misery.
RULE 2. Always study the sales catalog long before you get to the sale. Go
by the office and get one the day before. If they don’t have them ready it’s a
sure sign they really don’t won’t you to find out they have a book full of
junk. Never listen to the auctioneers or owners testimony….they always say’
“this is the best one I ever raised”. Yea, so was that plow puller you sold me
last year.
RULE 3. Remember, it’s a little known fact that 30% of all the yearlings
offered through a sale, that is within walking distance of a training facility,
have already been ridden and culled. Look for saddle marks, tie down marks,
thin hair on pasterns, swelling on corners of mouth. This especially holds true
for fall colts. A quick give away is a colt who is extremely tame. If the
handler is being dragged in the dust, and the colt paces and tracts well, then
you may have something. Otherwise you may have a re-run.
RULE 4. Do not buy a colt that wins the yearly class at the CELEBRATION or Futurity…history
records that usually after their victory they forget that they are supposed to
be great.
RULE 5. Go
to only open consignment yearling sales! Anything else is too specific and
limited. You have no comparisons. Exclusive sales are just a slug of plugs by a
few studs who required a party to sell their get. They cram them in your face
praying that you will find 1 out of a 100 that doesn’t look like crap. They are
simply plug dispersal.
RULE 6. The sale handler is the key to it all. If he or she is selling
most of the higher priced colts , then buying one out of their group is less
risky than others. If the handler is having to shake the colts head side to
side to get it to pace …then keep your hands in your pocket.
RULE 7. Do not buy just on confirmation! Model horses do not bring $1.5
million. 99% of classes are performance based. Ugly is not a problem. When they
strip the horses in the big stake its not to judge for confirmation…its to give
the judges time to get on their cell phone’s and call someone to find out how
to tie the class.
RULE 8. Well balanced horses may make good quarter horses, but not
walking horses. Well structured horses seldom produce…just look at the ones
that are winning. They have long front legs, short back legs, short backs, long
necks. deep at withers to girth, thin but athletic. Crooked back legs are an
issue…they are great to have if the hocks are straight down from the point of
the hip ...but if they are behind they could pose problems.
RULE 9. Ewe necks are a plus !! Examples are ...The Touch, Pushover, Bold
Courier, My Magic Marker and of coarse The Super Stock ...who had such a ewe
neck that they put a shoe of roses around it in a stud picture. A ewe neck
horse will always carry their head high. They have a tendency to pass this
quality on to their colts as well.
RULE 10. Jug headed horses are “OK”. I know you don’t like them but
history proves that jug heads will walk. I really think a jug head shakes
better… just look at Masquerading, Knights Magic, Pusher’s
Big Score, and the king of the jug heads…Dude’s Black Allen.
RULE 11. Color will not effect a colts ability to walk…ain’t none of them
great because they are sorrel with flax mane and tail…or what ever. They will
try to tell you that at the sale…and you will go home with a flashy plug
waiting to spend your money.
RULE 12. Sire doesn’t hold as much
weight in genetics as the mare. 95% of the studs in this business need to be
gelded anyway. On the dam side look for Sun’s Delight granddaughters, Ultra
Threats, Triple Threats, Pushers, Pushovers, Bumming Arounds, Hacksaw’s, Gold
Coins, Pride Of Midnights, and if it is an Ebony Masterpiece bred mare make
sure the colt is by a square going stud. Stay away from colts with dams by…
Senator’s (anything) , Hallelujah ( which means hallelujah he is gone),
Handshaker mares, spotted crop outs, Ace’s Sensation’s (which you will
recognize because the Ace bred colts will have a bloody piece of the handlers
ear hanging out its mouth.) Last but not least. And finally ...Sensational
Shadow dams…which should have been outlawed.
RULE 14. Watch closely ..the actions of those who are bidding. If a full
time horse trainer is leading a colt through the sale, and another full time
horse trainer is bidding on the colt…got take a leak…get a hamburger…whittle,
but for gosh sakes don’t even twitch. With one scratch or hand gesture you
could be the first contestant on the “WHEEL OF SCREWING”.
RULE 15. Stay Clear of colts with obvious problems…like slew foot, pigeon
toe, parrot mouth, which hampers feeding and grazing. Ever seen a fat man with
buck teeth? The same holds true for horses … kinda' like those skinny Kennedy
kids…you know Ethel’s bunch.
RULE 16. Never fall for that “full brother” smoke and mirrors crap , when
it comes to a colt who happens to be sired by a full brother to a WGC or other
show horse. What they have told you is this…this colt is by a horse that is a
piece of crap ..and the only thing he has going for him is that his full
brother was a show horse. This sire probably will never make a show horse,
never will a show horse and should be gelded for the betterment of the breed.(
For all those who own a full brother, and are actually charging people to breed
to your horse…please forgive my brash nature…but this site is based on truthful
information and historical facts that are some times hard to accept. Please do
this breed a favor..turn yourself in to the TWHBEA with cut testicals in
hand…and you should be rewarded.