Each year on the night preceding the first night of the Celebration, the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ and Exhibitors’ Association hosts its annual National Futurity. Commonly called “the Futurity,” by any title, it is a horse show featuring all select young horses up to and including three-year-olds with each year having a colt and filly division. The fact that only horses three-and-under are presented is one of the distinguishing factors that sets this presentation aside from the others.
This was the 54th presentation of the Futurity, exactly the same number of years as the Celebration. The Futurity and Celebration have not always been together with the first Futurities being held in Nashville. They were soon moved to Shelbyville to coincide with the Celebration and have continued to share many things with the Celebration, including judges, announcer, and production staff.
Again this year, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store was the title corporate sponsor. Other sponsors were Lincoln County Bank, Harlinsdale Farm, Walking Horse Trainers’ Association, and the owners of Iron Works, Pride’s Stormy Night, Ebony’s Bold Courier, Stormy’s John Mack, The Pushover, Flashy Pride, Pride’s Jubilee Star, Coin’s Hard Cash, and Pride’s Generator. Each of these stallions were presented to the audience between classes at the show. All the stallions were under halter except Ebony’s Bold Courier and The Pushover who gave a spectacular display with many commenting they had never been better.
The $145,00 prize money awarded, a $15,000 increase over last year, is a record for the Futurity as well as considerably more than its next closest competitor. But then there is no competitor. No other show in the Walking Horse industry is required to meet such stringent standards and requirements prior to the entry being accepted.
To be eligible to compete in the Futurity, the sire, the dam, and the individual colt itself must by “nominated.” What is “nominated?” To be nominated and eligible to compete a fee is required by each to the National Futurity program. These fees are over and above the regular cost of registering and transferring of registration papers.
The added fee is the weeding out process for the mass stallion and mare operations as well as the smaller operations with one or two mares where quality is not necessarily the issue but rather the end results of a pleasant hobby. The owner of most every well recognized stallion of the breed pays his part to assure that his offspring are eligible to be a futurity colt. That only leaves the mare owner to take a long hard look at only his best mares and then pay the yearly fee to keep her “nominated” year-in and year-out as she produces some of the best-bred colts of the industry. Once the colt arrives, he must decide if the colt is worthy of the extra fee to be eligible. Here again, the fee must be paid yearly on the mare and then another fee paid for the colt. The colt’s fee must continue to be paid each year up until and through his (or her) three-year-old year.
A colt may be dropped from the program at any time along the way. For instance, a particularly good weanling may not grow to be good enough size or may not be fat enough to show as a yearling. Two-Year-Old numbers drop off drastically for a variety of reasons. Many really good yearlings never make it to the ring under saddle. Another drastic drop happens between the two- and three-year-old year as the show ring performers display their style.
For the second year, the Futurity opened the door and offered an avenue for colts that weren’t nominated as weanlings to be able to enter the Futurity program. Prior to 1991, a colt that was not nominated as a weanling and the fees paid on a yearly basis could not enter the later divisions of the futurity. Now with a substantial financial penalty, if a person feels strongly enough that he has an outstanding individual, for a fee he can be brought current even for his three-year-old season. To keep a colt nominated from weanling through three-year-old is less than $1,000 but to wait until the three-year-old year, the fee would be in excess of $5,000.
The Futurity is self-supporting as far as the prize money is concerned. Fees collected from the nominations are pooled before deciding the amount to be awarded. Once the total is determined, a complicated formula is used to determine the amount for each class (which varies) to be divided. The funds from the corporate title sponsor Cracker Barrel, and the individual class sponsorship used to pay for the usual show expenses such as judges and ribbons.
Twelve awards are made in each class. The richest class this year was the Yearling Colt class with a first place award of $3,571 and 12th place prize money of $465. The least paying class was the Three-Year-Old Mares and Geldings with a top and bottom of $2,248 and $293. The 12th place winnings are more than the majority of first place awards in the Stake class at a regular Saturday night horse show.
Eddie Arnold, famed country music star, was this year’s honorary chairman and was brought into Calsonic Arena for opening ceremonies in a carriage ably pulled by Gone To Glory, a World Champion Plantation Driving winner with trainer, Wayne Hackney at the whip. Gone To Glory was loaned for this noble purpose by Kathy Wallace, owner, who has a variety of championship contenders both plantation and performance.
The TWHBEA has recognized the importance of the youth in the walking horse business as being the future leaders of the breed. With this in mind, two classes have been set aside for the younger exhibitors to present their colts in the Youth Weanling and Youth Yearling classes.
As a matter of fact, the Youth Weanling class was the first on the 12 class program. Maxie Choice, that went on to become a multi-titled weanling in both the Futurity and Celebration, was the winner with Nathan Mills at the lead for Hoyte and Jane Eakes. She is the product of the Hidden Acres Farm of Mr. and Mrs. Eakes and is by one of their many champion sires, Pride’s Choice Cut. The reserve placement was earned by Jewell’s Choice Pearl, another product of the Hidden Acres Farm that was sold to Dr. Roger Richards earlier in the season. She, too, is a filly and was lead by Jessica Jackson and is also by Pride’s Choice Cut.