Involved in Lenox' rebel movement was a charge of incorrect registration of a colt, a charge which he said the association "has not dispatched properly."

Lenox contended that a colt was registered as being by his stallion. Carbon Copy, when actually the mare was at his farm "trying to be bred at the time the colt is registered as foaling."

He supported his contention with a report from Dr. Cameron Shawl of Collierville, a veterinarian, saying that the mare had a breeding problem which required hormone treatments to correct.

Lenox' charge and his evidence-part of it involving a gestation period of 11 months and 25 days, which he said was about a month too long-was heard by the association board, but they judged the evidence "not sufficient" to invalidate the registration.

He has requested a rehearing, and also asked the board to honor his request that his notarized signature as owner of the sire be required on all applications for registration on colts by Carbon Copy.

Lenox was not the only one to complain of registration practices. Dr. Russell Myers of Woodbury put a complaint before the board that Milton Alexander of Readyville, Tenn., registered two colts as being by last year's world grand champion, GoBoy's Royal Heir, when actually they were by Myers' stallion, The Man of the Hour. Myers said he sold Alexander two mares in foal to The Man of the Hour, and that the transfer slip shows his horse as the stud.

Myers says transfers of ownership show that both mares sold to C. L. Kline, and list each mare as being "open"—that is, not in foal-at the time of transfer. Myers said he did not sell the mares to Kline. Efforts to reach Kline for comment were unsuccessful.

Mrs. Sharon Brandon, association secretary, said the board does not assume the role of legal arbitrator in such disputed cases, but must depend on "the integrity of the individual" in registering all horses." If the records are in order "we must register the horse," she said.

"When the court rules on either case, or any other," she added, "then the board will take appropriate action against the guilty party."

Kelley said that both cases are "in the hands of lawyers, ours as well as the s."

"Our doors and records are always open to anyone who would like to check," he said. "We opened them to Mr. Lenox and will open them to anyone who has a legitimate purpose for needing them."

"We are required by law to register a man's horse if the information he provides is in order. If we find sufficient evidence of fraudulent registration, we want to rid ourselves of the guilty person."

One of Lenox' complaints is that the election of futurity judges is open to question. Futurity judges are elected by a vote of those members who pay a fee to enter horses in the future, but must be chosen from a list of licensed judges.

Last year Lenox complained to the association that a total of 56 votes was "cast by nine people. None of the ballots was signed." He based this charge on the opinion of a Memphis handwriting expert, Earl E. Davenport, who analyzed the futurity ballots and concluded that 30 of them were filled out in the same handwriting, six more in a different handwriting, five in another, four in another, three in another, and two each in four other hands.

The voting regulations in the futurity election do not require signatures on the ballots, and Beech remarked: "Lenox used to send his ballot to me to fill out as I pleased, before he got involved in this proxy thing."

Every new member of the board has to have a sponsor before he can be accepted. Of the 725 members of the association, 53 were sponsored by E. A. Self of Mobile, and 35 by C. M. Waters of Alexandria, La.

In Alexandria, 23 members listed the same postoffice box number-1749. In Mobile, 43 members listed only "Mobile, Ala." as an address.

Lewisburg has 69 members listed, 19 of them listing 116 E. Ewing St. as the address. This is the address of a printing office which handles an association account.

Other membership listings by towns include: Newbern, Tenn., 32; Woodbury, 17; Bradyville, six.; Readyville, nine; Pulaski, 24; Tullahoma, 17; Nashville, nine; Shelbyville, 11; Fayetteville, nine; Columbia, 16; Hayti, Mo., 11; Springfield, Mo., 16; and Clinton, Mo., 11.

Concerning the association's elections, Beech says: "It's just like electing a county road commissioner you get behind your man and get your man

and get your people to work."

In the early 1960s, the late John Amos paid more than $800 in membership due for a group of Eastern Kentucky coal miners.

The meeting in question was in April 1961 and came to light during the California suit.

When questioned about the incident, Amos, once the association's most powerful member, said:

"There have been a number of years in which those coal miners voted, but that was the only year they had been transported by bus.

"They made a whole day out of the annual meeting, and visited a number of points of interest in Middle Tennessee, went over to Chattanooga, to Lookout Mountain, just took some time off on their own hook.

"I don't remember when it started, but it's been done for some years, up until proxy voting was forced on the association."

Fulton testified that the theory behind such action is: "You don't let in a dog if you think he will bite you."

The importance of membership in the association is that it is the licensing agent for walking horse judges, and has a licensing committee for that purpose. Some members contend that judges are thus placed under pressure to please the committee, which varies from year to year. Members contend they have to play "politics" in order to maintain their credentials.

There are no "politics" as such in the association according to Kelley, but he conceded that "there are many, many things wrong in it."

$ $ $ RIDE ON JUDGE'S DECISION

One of the most vulnerable practices in the Tennessee walking horse industry is judging-where one man's word means, not just ribbons and glory, but dollars . . . sometimes a lot of dollars.

It isn't just the prize money. Winning or not winning can mean a difference of $10,000 in the price of a horse. Or more.

And yet, the judge who determines the winning horse may be a trainer, who knows that one of those horses is ridden by another trainer who in turn may judge the show in which the judge himself will ride the next night, in the next town.

Or one of the horses may be ridden by a very close friend, who entered this show just because he is judging it.

Or the judge may be a breeder, and one or more of those horses may be from his own stallion's heritage. If such a horse wins, horse owners are going to be more inclined to want colts from that stallion.

The judge, whoever he is, finds himself in this situation, with a wide open decision, because a show decision rests on his judgment, and nothing else. In contrast to other sports, there can be no objectively clear-cut winner of a horse show. There is no finish line, no scoreboard.

With as much money as there is on the line, the judges-one or threecannot but be conscious of the issue, whether it's a one-night horse show or the Walking Horse National Celebration in Shelbyville.

Winners of the National Celebration have sold for more than $100,000.

If the judges had seen things differently and the horses had finished much lower, their value could have dropped to as little as $10,000. Breeders pay high fees for champions to sire their mares.

Even in smaller shows, if a horse that is for sale should win, he is worth much more than if he should finish fourth.

"The difference in the average horse can be as much as $10,000," said one owner. "Many times the judge is apprised of the transaction, and called on for a little help."

Vic Thompson, president of the Walking Horse Trainers Association, contends that most judges place the horses as accurately as they can. But when one horse is only slightly better than another, the only criterion is the "human judgment" of the judge, who can only say: "That's the way I saw them."

Whether they're trying to favor someone or to avoid favoring someone, sometimes the judges make decisions that seem to the audience to be way off-base. The stands rose with a chorus of "boos" at the announcement of the winner of one recent Middle Tennessee show, and then cheered the secondplace horse.

"I've seen many a man make a jackass out of himself in front of thousands of people," said State Sen. Joe T. Kelley of Columbia, president of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association of America.

In the one-night show, the judge is generally a trainer with a judging license issued by the association. Licensing is handled by a judging committee from the association's board of directors, but Kelley commented:

"The only thing the license is worth is a little prestige."

What he meant by that was that the license isn't required by all horse shows. The board compiles a list of certified judges, but a man isn't excluded from it "just because he judges a show badly," says Kelley. The committee must receive a written complaint within 30 days to take action toward removing him from the list, and very few such complaints are filed.

"Tempers flare," he said. "But people cool down after a couple of days." Charges that shows are "fixed" are frequent, even at the Celebration. Often the charges obviously stem from bitterness at losing.

But the story is that recently, at Petersburg, a patron was handed a list of winners, compiled by a groom, before the show began. The patron and a friend bet on the winner of each class as they entered the ring, and the patron won every time.

That doesn't necessarily mean such a show is "fixed" though, say horse people. They explain that trainers always pick shows where competition is limited, and they can be pretty sure their own horses are the best. The top horses seldom, if ever, compete except in the Celebration itself.

Judges for that most prestigious of all walking horse shows are picked by a secret committee, according to William C. (Bill) Tune, president of the Celebration, and trainers who might have an interest aren't usually on the judging team-they're exhibiting in the ring.

"We pick three so that the pressure can't be leveled at one man," said Tune. "And we keep the committee secret so pressure can't be exerted on them about selection."

Yet pressure from the crowd can have a great effect on judges. Many claim that the lusty reaction to Betty Sain's Shaker's Shocker had a lot to do with his getting the world's championship in 1966. The big black stallion has placed very low in subsequent celebrations and didn't finish in the top 12 in the Aged Stallion class last Wednesday night.

The matter of "soring"-treating the horse with chemicals or by mechanical means so he will lift his feet higher-is left almost exclusively to the judges especially at the one-night show.

This year, judges in Tennessee were not required to inspect horses without their boots, the protective covering around the ankle. Since it wasn't required, most of them didn't.

In the final analysis, the judges may not tie (place) many horses wrong, according to one owner, but he added that that's because "no man will make a total fool of himself in front of thousands of people."

What can be done about the vulnerability of the judging process is a question for discussion, but George Lenox, Collierville, Tenn., owner-breeder, outlined what he'd like to see eventually :

"I long for the day when an unknown trainer can bring a horse in from the woods and have it judged solely on the merit of the horse.

"When we reach that level, we can't breed enough horses and the trainers can't train enough horses to meet the demands of the people.

"People get discouraged from even entering the business, because of all the things they've heard about having to spend money."

HORSE ACQUIRED AS SORING EXHIBIT

A Washington-based horse protection association purchased a Tennessee Walking Horse at a Shelbyville sale yesterday which the group said will be used as a "blatant example of soring."

A veterinarian for the group said the horse, a three-year-gelding, is "the most unsound horse" he has examined and that poor training practices have made him "worthless" as a walking horse.

The horse is expected to be taken later this month before a special Senate committee studying legislation that would make the soring of horses a federal offense. It is already unlawful in Tennessee.

The horse, a registered gelding named Papa Charcoal, was purchased for $500 by Mrs. William Blue of Washington, D.C., vice president of the American Horse Protection Association, at an auction sale operated by S. W. Beech Jr. and Pete Yokley, two Tennessee horse breeders.

The sale, called the "Sale of Show Ring Champions," is being held at Shelbyville, scene of the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. However, the sale is not on the show grounds and is not connected with the show or its officials.

"We bought this horse as an example of blatant soring," said Mrs. Blue. "It is obvious that trainers and owners have contempt for the sufferings of the animals and are interested in the Tennessee Walking Horse as a trade, not in the animal or sportsmanship."

Soring is the practice of using mechanical and chemical means-commonly oil mustard-to make a horse's feet tender so it will live them high in the show ring, producing artificially the gait prized by judges and spectators.

Mrs. Blue said a veterinarian present at the sale examined the horse and gave her a written statement that he was suffering from "chain rubs."

Later, Dr. William R. Porter, a Maryland veterinarian licensed by the Maryland Racing Commission, described the horse as "the most unsound I have seen in 21 years of practice."

"The horse is in generally poor condition due to mistreatment during training," he said.

Dr. Porter said the horse was suffering from:

A "bowed tendon" in his right foreleg, probably caused by ankle stress.
Deep chain cuts on the ankles of both forelegs.

Sprained suspensory ligaments in the forelegs.

Porter accompanied Mrs. Blue and Mrs. Paul W. Twine, Great Falls, Va., the association president, to the sale. He said he will examine the horse further at a later date.

Mrs. Twine and her organization are widely in walking horse horse circles. She frequently toured the show circuit challenging officials and demanding that shows be stopped and that sore horses not be shown.

The horse was brought to the auction by Roy Davis, a Calhoun, Ga., horse owner. He said he took it in a trade recently and knew nothing of its condition.

"He's just one of the horses I brought up here to sell," said Davis. "I don't check them very closely."

Registration papers given to Mrs. Blue show the horse is the grandson of the great Merry Go Boy, a two-time world champion walker who died earlier this year. The papers showed the hore had passed through three owners before Davis, the last being Mrs. Patricia Gober, Prattville, Ala.

Mrs. Gober said she traded the horse in March 1968, and that he had passed through several traders before he got to Davis.

"He was not sored while we had him," she said. "We never showed him." Mrs. Gober, who said she is opposed to soring, said the horse had not been gelded when she sold him.

Mrs. Blue said the horse was wearing the "training chains" when he was offered at the auction but that she was assured by stablehands the chain rubs were not serious.

Beech said he and Yokley were only the "agents" at the sale and that neither knew anything of the horse's condition. He said a veterinarian had checked all the horses and informed new owners of their conditions.

It's not against the law to sell a sore horse," he said. "It's against the law to sore a horse or show a sore one."

The condition of Papa Charcoal is not surprising. For he is the product of an industry where the soring of horses is the "rule" rather than the exception.

In Tennessee, especially, it has become an art, an illegal art but one which trainers say must be learned in order to compete.

The fact that Tennessee law expressly forbids it and makes it punishable by fine and imprisonment means little. That law and a companion statute requiring judges and horse show officials to report violations are seldom, if ever, enforced. Although several of the leading trainers like Vic Thompson of Shelbyville and Joe Urquhart of Columbia disagree, most say the "art" is necessary to produce the "big lick”—the climbing, reaching stride of the professional walking horse. Without this "lick," they say, horse show stands will not be filled.

The ultimate responsibility lies with these trainers, but most are reluctant to stop unless all others do. Owners and breeders seem to be interested mainly in

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winning, even if the trainers have to "sore" to accomplish it. Trainers who want to stop soring are getting little help from breeders.

In fact, the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association, the heart of the industry and the organization which makes the rules for the showing of the Tennessee Walker, is so beset with internal problems and outside pressures that the entire walking horse business is suffering.

Close scrutiny of the walking horse business by the Nashville Tennessean in the last two months has disclosed a multitude of practices which are at best questionable.

Among them are numerous instances of fradulent registration of horses, a practice so widespread many horsemen say it is threatening the purity of the breed. Consider the case of "Midnight Lena," a registered mare whose owner says she died in a fire in 1959. Urquhart, the Columbia trainer, apprised the loss for an insurance company at the time and remembers certifying the death of Midnight Lena.

Midnight Lena, or a horse with her papers, was found by The Tennessean at Stallion Stables at Unionville last week.

The present owner, Jack Short, executive secretary of the Walking Horse Trainers Association, was surprised to learn Midnight Lena's history. She has passed through four owners before being purchased by Short.

The man who says Midnight Lena died in the fire, B. C. Baker of Centerville, says he has no knowledge of how the papers were transferred to the horse belonging to Short.

The breeders association, which controls registrations, is now embroiled in controversy over two such questionable registrations.

In one case a Memphis breeder is complaining that a colt was registered as being by his world champion stud when it was not. In another a Woodbury owner says that two colts by his stallion were registered with the association as being those of another.

Though plagued by such problems for years, the breeders association has added to its woes by approving artificial insemination, a practice which makes horse breeding easier, but raises even more questions about the purity of the breed. If controlled, it could be a boon to the industry, but as practiced now it could destroy it. The presence of a few unethical breeders heightens the possibility of fraudulent registrations.

As one trainer said, "The possibility exists for substituting the semen of one horse for that of another. Who can tell the difference if both studs are the same color?"

Although the breeders association did not approve artificial insemination until 1966, many breeders acknowledge they have been using it for years. Some use it selectively, others do not.

Beech, a Belfast breeder and a power within the association, points up the problem. "How am I going to turn down a friend if he has a $100 mare and wants to breed her to one of my studs?" he asks.

Testimony in a recent lawsuit disclosed that in 1963 Beech's late, great stallion, Merry Go Boy, was bred to 403 mares.

He was 19 years old at the time and artificial insemination was still against association rules.

Artificial insemination has been used effectively in the thoroughbred horse industry.

Among walking horses, a world champion stallion averages wel lover 100 breedings a season. The fee ranges from $50 to $400.

Near the top of the list of complaints about the walking horse industry is its system of judging, a system which puts the judge in a most vulnerable position. Most horse shows have only one judge and he almost always is a trainer or a breeder. These men more often than not are close friends of trainers and breeders with horses in the show.

The judge knows well that he may be showing a horse the next night in a show at which one of these men could be the judge.

The pressure is compounded because the value of a Tennessee walker depends on his show performance. Winning can mean a difference of $10,000 in the price of a horse, possibly even more.

With this much money on the line, the judges-whether one or three-cannot but be conscious of who is riding the horse.

Whether trying to favor someone or not, the judges sometimes make decisions that seem to the audience to be erroneous. At one recent horse show, the crowd booed the winning horse and gave a standing ovation to the second place finisher.