by Stephanie Rose

WHITE PINE, Tenn.—The fourth annual East Tennessee Walking Horse Association Trainers’ Show was held Oct. 23-25, 2008, at the Great Smoky Mountain Expo Center. This year’s show was dedicated to the memory of Kenny Ailshie and a trophy was presented to his family on Saturday night during the show. Link Webb of Lewisburg, Tenn., was the walking judge and David Finger of Maggie Valley, N.C., was the racking judge for the 79 classes that took place over three nights including Saturday afternoon’s session.

The crowd was delighted by exhibitions from world and world grand champions such as In My Pocket and Dalia Smith, the 2008 Amateur Owned & Trained World Champions; Wallstreet and Clay Mills, the Amateur Three-Year-Old World Grand Champions and the Racking World Grand Champions Almost Indecent and Bryan Barnhill.

The two biggest classes of the show were the ETWHA Members Amateur Specialty and the Amateur Specialty classes. Both had many top entries and were tied after a full workout from the remaining horses. Loreal and Meredith Broome were the winners of the members class, while World Champion Royal Luck and Clay Mills wore the blue ribbon in the Amateur Specialty.

Seven entries made the gate call for the Walking Stake. The Games We Play and Chad Baucom walked and shook their way to the roses for Mills and Fuller of Mt. Airy, N.C., and Blountville, Tenn. The Games We Play also won the Amateur Men’s Specialty division and the Amateur Canter class at the East Tennessee Fall Classic the week before.  Nightfall At The Ritz and Derek Monahan carried out the red ribbon for Rom Folger. They have had wins in the stake division this year at the Foothills Classic and the Tazewell County Classic. All American José and Ronald Mosley were third for Sherry Mills. He won the stakes at the Lenoir Optimist and has had reserves at the Bland County Fair, the Tazewell County Classic, the Foothills Classic and Chunn’s Cove.

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