| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Grider Family brings walking horse spotlight to Adair County Four World Championships, including one Grand championship, set record for family steeped with long tradition in Walking Horse business, from Arthur Hatcher, to O.E. Grider, to Tommy, Ronnie and Donnie Grider, and now, riders Julie and Brent Grider By Ed Waggener When the announcer at the 2006 National Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration announced for the public addresss system, "Julie, this is a ride you'll be thinking about for a long time." Julie had just won the Amateur Specialty World Grand Championship on The Sky Command, and she would ride triumphantly around the ring with the horseshoe garland of roses around The Sky Command. There she was, sitting straight in the saddle, a total picture of loveliness, embodying all that her family's long tradition in the business had, had just won the biggest prize in the Tennessee Walking Horse World, with those thousands of horse people cheering from countries all over the world, "She was under the spotlight with 28,000 people on their feet, cheering," her father, Tommy Grider said. It was a thrill like few others, he said. For Julie Grider, the wins marked her eighth World Champion titles. She's been riding in world competition at the Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration for 10 years. The first time she competed at the Shelbyville, TN, event she won two World Championships. It was a fantastic moment for Julie, for her family, and for Adair County. She's been around Walking Horses all her life. But she has amateur status because she does not derive her main source of income from the walking horse business. The UK graduate is representative for Bella Bliss, traveling extensively for the clothing line from her home in Lexington, KY. This was a huge time for The Tommy Grider Family of Columbia, KY. A huge year for Columbia, KY. Back in Columbia, KY, the magnitude of the victory wasn't lost on local leaders. "The first call of congratulations," Tommy Grider said, "was from Pat Bell. The Mayor had been watching on Pay Per View, at home, and he called as soon as he could reach us. That really meant a lot to all of us." In all, The Tommy Grider Family won four World Championships at the Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration, held the last week of August and the first week of September in Shelbyville, TN. The Tommy Grider Family World Championships 2006 National Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration, Shelbyville, Tennessee 1) World Grand Championship. Friday, September 1, 2006. The Sky Command, stallion. Julie Grider, rider 2) World Championship Amateur Specialty, August 29, 2006. The Sky Command, stallion, Julie Grider, rider 3) World Championship. Amateur Three Year Old Mares/Gelding, Section B. Witch Revival. Mare. Julie Grider, rider 4) World Championship 3 year old mare, Witch Revival. Brent Grider, rider and trainer When announcer says 'Columbia, KY' there's great sense of pride "You know," he said, "no matter how many times they announce it, every time you hear 'Columbia, KY' coming over the speaker, you have to have a sense of pride. With so many horse people there from all over the world, you can imagine the feeling," he added, "I met people from Canada, Brazil, Israel, Mexico, and Germany." It is, for now, the highpoint of intense interest in Tennessee Walking Horses for four generations in the family. Tommy Grider's maternal grandfather, Arthur Hatcher, his father O.E. Grider, Tommy's brothers Donnie and Ronnie, and now Julie Grider and Brent Grider, all were active in raising, training, and showing Tennessee Walking Horses. Brent Grider already selected to be TWH judge at major events Brent is the son of Ronnie Grider, who operates a big TWH training center near the Community Park on South KY 55. Besides the World Championship on Witch Revival, Brent has been selected to be a judge at several major events around the country, and that, Tommy Grider says, is great for a 24 year old young horseman. Thousands of Adair Countians have seen the late O.E. Grider riding at the Adair County Fairs & Horse Show. He was a real showman. "Brent," Tommy Grider says, "sits on a horse just like Daddy did. People everywhere tell me that when they see Brent ride, they think of his grandfather." Witch Revival is the result of an embryo from Tommy Grider's mother's, Mrs. Margaret Grider's, estate. "She (Witch Revival) is the product of the last stallion and mare Mother was involved with," Tommy Grider said. "When Julie and Brent won on Witch Revival," he said, "their grandmother was looking down on them." The mare is more special in another way. "She is pure Adair County. She was born and raised and trained exclusively in Adair County. She's eaten Adair grass. She drank Adair County water" While The Sky Command was trained by Knox Blackburn, a Hall of Fame trainer in Franklin, TN, Witch Revival was trained at Tommy Grider's by Julie's first cousin, Brent Grider. The Sky Command was purchased from a Murchison, Texas, farm. The Griders have won four world championships before, in 1996, but never four in ncluding a World Grand Championship. World Championships are preliminaries within a class. A World Grand Championship is competition between all the qualifying World Champions. And they've owned, at one time, numerous World Grand Champions, but never at the time the horses actually was crowned. Horses are athletes, Tommy Grider says "To be really successful, you have to really love the horses," Tommy Grider said. "Horses are like dogs. They can detect your thinking," he adds. Thinking about the training of a horse is much like considering which human athletes are best suited to which coaches. "Some players perform better with some coaches than with others," he said. That's why different trainers were employed for The Sky Command and for Witch Revival. While buying the right horse for performance is like recruiting the human athlete, there's an added dimension to producing great horses, and that is breeding. "We're looking for talent, heart, and stamina," Grider said. "we try to look back in the gene pool of the dam and sire. We check their pedigrees to see what pairing will produce the best athlete. We're looking to enhance certain parts of the offspring's anatomy in selecting matches. We look for positive contributions from both sire and dam, hopefully resulting in a quality offspring." While there are many sales from Grider Farm, Tommy Grider says they've kept all the mares Julie Grider rode to victories. One of his favorite is Pocket of Gold, a horse they bought in California at two years of age. They won three World Championships with her and now she's proving her worth as a mother. "As a brood mare, she has produced three babies to show in World Championship competition. One of her colts, Roll the Gold, was the two-year-old World Champion. Another, In My Pocket was a reserve champion, and a third, Latin Lover, finished fourth in the two-year-stallion class and sixth in the two year old World Grand Championship. Proud of the contribution horses are making to Adair County economy Tommy Grider is proud of what the local horse industry means to Adair County. "It's bigger than most people think," he said. Besides the numerous farms in Adair County who sell every variety of equine stock, from miniatrures horses, to mules and gennets to exotic draft animals to thoroughbreds and walking horses, there are also training facilities , farriers, veterinary specialists, horse publications, and more. This story was posted on 2006-09-27 08:38:04
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.
More articles from topic News:
Find auctions easily through ColumbiaMagazine.com classifieds LINK: Indystar.com story quotes Lindsey criminal justice coordinator Family plans special party for Bonnie Goodin on 90th birthday LETTER: Found dog at Green River Animal Shelter First 100 registrants for cancer march will get free t-shirts County Attorney Jennifer Hutchinson-Corbin to speak at LWC Friends of Library meet Thursday, September 28, 2006 Adair County has sharp monthly drop in unemployment rate Dr. Montell to tell ghost stories at Giles House Word received of the passing of J.D. Harper View even more articles in topic News |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
