Mona,

I believe this might be the Joe Gibbs you're talking about:



Do you know the horse?

Don't know Mr Gibbs, but love the white horse! My first pony was white and my first TWH was white (by chance, not design).

And please don't take my story about Joe in any way other than from my memory of being about 8 years old and thinking that was the smartest thing that I had ever seen! I always thought the world of him and Joey.

I started following my dad when I was about 4. Most of my formative life was spent at shows or barns. I spent summers staying with Marianne and J.T. Leech when Man of the Hour, My Fair Lady and Champagne Lady were in residence. And as much as I love the horses, the people involved with Walking Horses have got to be some of the most colorful in the world. There's always a good story waiting to be told.

Susie O.

Susie, I feel like I should know you. Sarah Coffee and I grew up showing together in AL (My Fair Lady), Liz had Biana with Marianne and JT and knew Diane Green (Champagne Lady), too.

We have probably crossed paths many times. I remember Sarah hanging out with Jane Meredith. And isn't Debra Coleman Sarah's cousin?

Sarah was the one who always came to pick me up at the airport when I flew in. The first time I met Joe Van was when Sarah locked her car keys in the truck with my luggage at the airport in Nashville. He came and got them out for her. I was in Montgomery with them when Top-It broke his leg. As a matter of fact, I helped Jerry Beatty take his tail brace off while everyone else was searching the show grounds for a vet.

I showed at Arab, AL on several occasions. We sold a horse traded horses with a man named Sam from Alabama. We got MacKay's Spider and he got Eldorado's Merry Maker. I think he went on to tie very well with him in amateur owned and trained classes. We showed Spider for several years here in Virginia.

Sarah showed our Eldorado's Merry Boy horse in Montgomery.

One time, she had the barn annoucer on the Celebration grounds asking for help finding my dad's panty hose. (Long story short, I always kept panty hose over the tail switch so it wouldn't get messed up. Leech's had about 5 horses going at one time so we had brought our own tail. Dad was looking for the stocking and he kept asking if anyone had seen the pantyhose. Sarah thought she would help so she had it announce over the speaker. Dad had people asking him if he'd found his panty hose for years!)

As I said, very colorful people.

Susie

We definitely should know one another. Oh, yes! Many stories to tell on this bunch. Saran and Liz were adopted and I cannot remember the exact relationship, but the Colemans and the Coffee's were related. I can remember short-sheeting Col Coleman's bed sheets at the Celebration when we were young kids.

Jane Hardy Meredith had Major's Mary Poppins and Worthy Delight with Preach Fleming back in those days. Lynne Utter Northrup was showing out of Hershal Talley's barn in AL and Priscilla had Eagle's Ace....she and Joe Vann were partners later on. Joe Vann was one of the most charismatic people even in the horse industry.

Somewhere I have a picture of Mr Toppit, I had forgotten that incident. Sarah and I still maintain some contact, but she and her husband (Albert) are very close to Jane and Tom Meredith. They accompanied them to Greece to renew their wedding vows this year.

I thought that Sarah married Mike Miller.

Susie, I just remembered who Sam probably was...Sam Hall and he showed an Eldorado horse for years successfully in AL.

Sam Caldwell was also in AL years ago, so initally I thought of Caldwell. I remember Caldwell showing Mud Slide Slim the first time in Clanton as a 3 year old. Sam's legs were so long on that little pony and he was great the first time they showed him. I believe Sam was at the Martin's in Montgomery (Anita ended up showing Mud) and brother Brian is still in California, if I am not mistaken.

Sarah was married to Mike, but divorced years ago. Married Al ~ a year ago and they live in Miami. She looks great (blonde & svelte) and is very happy!!!! Jane and Tom have been married 25 years!

You are right. It was Sam Hall. I had forgotten his last name.

The next time you speak with Sarah, please tell her that Susie Overstreet said "hello".

Does anyone here remember Wes Sullivan who rode Cotton Queen's Image in the mid 70's? Wes had his horses at Leech's when I first starting going down there in the summers. He was from New Orleans if I remember correctly.

Susie O

Remember Joe Gibbs well. Think he quit around 68-70. He and Eddie Tuck switched jobs.
Eddie became a horse trainer and Joe became a dry cleaner. I think the horse Joe is on
in the above picture is Sun's Zenith.
Eddie

I remember Cotton Queen's Image (big red roan horse?), but for some reason I thought Karen Wallace showed him in juvenile....do not remember Wes Sullivan.

Eddie,I thought Zenith was a little darker roan,I could be wrong.I remember her when Mr. Charlie Bobo had her.I do remember Joe in that pic but can't remember the horse.I remember Joe doing a lot of winning with it though.

The horse Gibbs is riding in that photo is "Grey Sun".

Yes, that's the Joe I am talking about. At the time I knew him he was driving a beer truck and training any kind
of horse he could get on the side. I don't think he was training any WH. I could be wrong, it has been a long
time. He was a policeman in Rocky Mount, NC and got hurt on the job. He was from somewhere up north, Mass.
I think and started out as a hunter-jumper trainer. He had a lovely wife, Alma and several small children/

Mona

Here's an old drawing of Gibbs & Sun's Zenith. Not sure where I got this, but it has been posted before, several years ago.

Here's the copy that accompanied the photo of Grey Sun & Joe Gibbs in the April, 1967 National Horseman magazine. Grey Sun was by Midnight Sun and the ad was for stud services:

"A 100 Percenter"
Demand a Champion to Produce Your Champion

"Undefeated until he went to the Celebration in 1959 as a two-year-old. Beaten only once as a three-year-old, and that was at the 1960 Celebration where he was crowned fifth best three-year-old in the world. This amazing, truly great stallion was also shown when a three-year-old in the amateur stake at Charlotte, N.C. where he won and beat such great horses as Sun's Bottled And Bond plus twenty-seven other top contenders. He was Virginia State Champion as a four-year-old. As a five-year-old, was chosen by the American Walking Horse Association to demonstrate the true gaits of the Tennessee Walking Horse. He is always a top contender anywhere he goes. He has been called a 100-percenter with all the true Walking Horse gaits by many known horse people.
He has sired some twenty to thirty colts and has put pace, stamina, looks and manners in them all. Ninety-eight percent of his get are bay, chestnut, sorrel, black or blue roan.
If you want the true WAlking Horse gaits--the looks--the manners, breed to this outstanding stallion".

What ever happened to..........

Wayne Hackney ???

Answer:

http://www.bluffcreekstables.com/about_us.htm

What ever happened to........

Lisa Bowman ???

Answer: http://public.superlativestudio.com/Blogs.aspx?segmentid=1262035&htmlfile=356367.html


What ever happened to........

Buddy Mason ???

Answer: http://www.myspace.com/buddymasonmusic

Wayne's daughter did her student teaching at the school I retired from. I think she is teaching in Smyrna now. Wayne was in Georgia then.

I am sure most of you know much more about these people than I do.

Lisa Bowman sells real estate and works auctions. She was working the yearling sale at Sand Creek during the Celebration.

Buddy Mason's wife died last year leaving him with two small children. Very sad. I have seen a picture of him, but haven't heard anything from them lately.

Surely some of the rest of you can fill in details and add more information.

Well, obviously, I didn't do my homework and look at the web sites before posting. Duh.

What ever happened to Jimmy McFarlin, Kay McFarland, Patty Dismukes, Billy Rambo, Hank Chitwood, Scott Allen, Kim Lovette, Joe Vann Clayton Jr., Jerry Jester, Kathy Brown, Ben Shelton III, Ben Rawlings III, Dermot Shemwell III, Patti Reams, Martha BoBo & Jim Haygood?

I think Little Joe Van Clayton was killed in a car accident years ago.

SB...Martha Bobo Doak and her husband...have owned Doak-Howell Funeral Home..for several yrs now. CB can tell you more.

Little Kathy Brown (Ebony's Back Woodsman) is now a mother. I haven't seen her lately, but she was still in ShelbVul then.

Jimmy McFarlin is a banker and I am pretty certain he is back here in Murfreesboro. Jerry Jester is in the Carolinas and he and his daughter show horses there.
Will Shelton is a school principal here in Rutherford County.

Jimmy McFarlin was in Ohio working for Dr. Apel yrs. ago.I used to go down and spend some time with him.Always liked him,pretty good trainer.Heck of a good guy too.He almost ran over me one night on the hill on the Cele. grounds with Scat Man.