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Articles Written by Annette Mayfield
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The Tennessee Walking Horse Drill Team
August in Lexington Kentucky at Kentucky Horse Park. Miles of white fencing, rolling hills, horses and friends what could be better than this? The Tennessee Walking Horse Drill Team was invited to Kentucky Horse Park to represent TWBEA at Breyerfest. In addition, the team competed in a drill team competition along with 9 other teams from all over the United States. There were so many big names and wonderful things going on it was hard to take it all in. To name a couple, the equine star of the movie Hildago AKA “TJ” and his famous trainer Rex Peterson demonstrated some of the stunts in the movie. Jerry” Diaz – Champion Charro & Rope Artist wowed the crowd with his unique roping skills while standing on top of his horse. Very impressive! We are working on that move but haven’t quite perfected it yet!
The drill team arrived on sultry humid day, Thursday, July 29th. The following 2 days were equally rainy and humid but the weather did not dampen the spirits of the team. Our job representing TWHBEA and this wonderful breed was foremost on our minds! The drill team performed demos on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In addition, we were asked to perform the opening flag ceremony and participate in the grand finale on Sunday. Our plate was full! The grand finale was so much fun! There were 50 or so horses in the arena representing several breeds and riding styles.
On a very rainy Saturday, the team competed in the drill team competition. In the gaited division, there were 3 teams – Texcelentes from Beaumont Texas, Licking River Riders Team from Kentucky and our Tennessee Walking Horse Drill Team. We took a second to the Texcelentes team who rode Paso Finos. Their name pretty much gives them away – they were excellent. The Tennessee Walking Horse Quad Team took a first. We were awarded a beautiful trophy, plaques, money and wonderful memories!
This was the 15th year for the Breyerfest, which is the largest get-together of model horse enthusiasts in the world. This year’s the theme was “Fiesta Equina!” The Spanish horses including Andalusians, Lusitanos, Spanish Mustangs, Peruvian Pasos were showcased. Breyer horse enthusiasts participated in classes, shows, shopping and watching breed demos.
Kentucky Horse Park is located on 1,032 acres. The park is a “working horse farm” which contains over 40 different breeds. We saw several famous horses including Cigar who won over 10 million dollars during his racing days. There is a spectacular memorial to Man O’War at the parks’ entrance. The park also has over 60 scheduled horse shows, racing events and steeplechase events running throughout the year.
We want to thank TWHBEA for choosing us to represent the Tennessee Walking Horse at Breyerfest. It was an honor and we were happy to be there. A representative from Breyerfest stopped by as we were loading up and thanked us for our participation and invited us back next year. The theme will be Medieval Times! Should be great fun!
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Tennessee Walking Horse Drill Team
July 17th was a perfect day for the St Judes Benefit Horse Show at the Big Z Arena in Zion Illinois. The folks at the Big Z invited the Tennessee Walking Horse Drill Team along with 2 other drill teams to perform at the benefit. Of course, we were thrilled to be asked! The other 2 drill teams did not make it to the benefit due to injuries, so we were it! The pressure was on. The morning dawned with blue skies and big puffy white clouds, a beautiful temperature and a nice breeze all for a good cause – St Judes Childrens Hospital.
St Jude Childrens Hospital is a research hospital devoted to finding cures for cancer. The patients are not required to pay for treatment above and beyond what insurance covers. Patients who are without insurance are never asked to pay. St Judes is the nations’ 4th-largest health-care charity. The hospital is operated on a model that keeps cost down, so the research continues. St Judes was the first to cure the most common form of childhood leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In 40 years the cure rate has gone from 4% to 80%.
The folks at the Big Z couldn’t have been nicer. The announcer was saying so many nice things about us I thought “I hope he stops before people start believing all this stuff!!!’ We performed to Boot Scootin Boogie, Boogie Woogie Choo Choo Train, The Shake and Cotton Eyed Joe. The audience clapped along and was startled when we did a maneuver that appeared we were going to crash from all directions. My niece, who was watching, said people gasped and said, “They are going to crash”. Of course my niece said “No they aren’t they know what they are doing!”
After the performance some of the Timmerman Drill Team members came over and said our precision was excellent and we were fantastic. Those were kind remarks from an experienced and excellent drill team. The Big Z folks invited us back next year to perform at the next St Jude benefit.
Later in the day a few of the drill team members stayed around and competed against the quarter horses in speed events. Raelynn riding Junior took a 2nd in poles, 3rd in barrels, and 1st in the egg and spoon. Beth and General took a 2nd in barrels, 3rd in egg and spoon and a third in poles! Not bad for walking horses! The announcer said we did our breed proud.
The Big Z is a local Non-Profit Organization family oriented equestrian center focused on young and new riders learning the “ropes”. The facility includes a large outdoor arena and a nice building which houses food concessions and the announcer’s stand.
The weekend was a very fulfilling time for the drill team. We not only were able to help out St Judes, but also had a great time doing it!
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