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Tennessee
Walking Horse OnLine Congratulates
Adult
Supreme Champion
Paula Underwood,
Maine
Merry Girl’s Promise
Maine's First Versatility Champion
With a combined total of over 100 championships and wins to her credit and
247 versatility points, Merry Girl's Promise, bred, owned and trained by
Paula Underwood, became Maine's first Supreme Versatility Champion.
Promise is a striking 16-hand, dark chestnut mare, the product of the
mating of Mark's Merry Girl, a lovely sorrel mare Paula has owned since
1973, and the handsome stallion, Hubbard's Jim Dandy. Her dam, Mark's
Merry Girl, was bred by Bill Robinson of Jackson, Tennessee. Her sire,
Hubbard's Jim Dandy, was bred by the late Howard Hubbard of Ellicott City,
Maryland. Promise's pedigree shows a strong influence of Merry Boy,
Wilson's Allen and Last Chance.
Born in the fall of 1979, Promise turned out to be the type of foal
breeders dream of producing and was the long awaited "promise" of good
things to come. She surprised everyone with her size and matured to a
height of 16 hands, barefoot, by the time she was four years old.
Promise's size is extraordinary since her dam and sire were 14.3 and 15.1
hands, respectively. She is no disappointment to Paula who is 5' 11",
barefoot! The filly seemed to have been made to order and a special bond
developed between the two that would enable them to dominate the New
England show circuit in future years.
Promise began winning Model and under saddle classes as a two and three
year old against horses of all ages. She has been successfully shown light
shod against heavy shod competition throughout her career. She has won
more than 50 trophies for Paula and is the only horse in New England to
have achieved the Supreme Award since the versatility rule changes went
into effect in 1983. Paula and Promise have also claimed 21 year-end
championship titles together.
Considered top contenders in New England, Paula and Promise earned points
in Model, English, Western, Easy Rider, Water Glass, Judged Pleasure
Rides, Trail, and Driving. They reigned as the team to beat for several
years, having been three-time New England Tennessee Walking Horse
Association Model Champion; twice NETWHA Plantation Champion and Overall
Champion; twice New England Horseman's Council Overall Champion; Maine
Walking Horse Association Plantation Driving and Model Champion; four
times Maine Horse Association Year End High Point Champion, Model and
Plantation Pleasure; Seacoast Association Riding Clubs Champion Tennessee
Walker; York County Rider's Overall Champion Tennessee Walker; and New
England Tennessee Walking Horse Association Driving Champion.
In addition to this impressive list of regional awards, Promise earned six
honor rolls in English and Model and won the TWHBEA Adult National Model
High Point Championship for two consecutive years which makes her the only
New England horse to have attained this distinction. Achieving national
acclaim was a proud accomplishment for a horse from this region
considering the shorter length of the show season and the smaller number
of shows. Promise, being the big, well-developed mare that she is, won
many Model Classes even pinning over most stallions that were shown
against her. True to form, she took the first place in that division at
the most recent TWHBEA/NETWHA Heyday held in Northampton, Massachusetts in
an excellent class of mares from all over the east coast.
With Paula at the reins, Promise accumulated numerous individual
championships and firsts in Model, Plantation, and Driving at such
prestigious New York and New England shows as Elmira Charity, Twin States
Saddlebred, Hopkinton Fair, Rye Lions, North Country, American Saddlebred
Association of Maine, Highview, Worcester Charities, New Hampshire Horse
and Trail and Deerfield Fair. In 1983, at the Elmira Charity Horse Show in
Elmira, New York as a three year old, she was the youngest horse entered
in the plantation pleasure division. In 1986, she was undefeated at the
Salem Silver Spurs Show in New Hampshire having won every class offered in
the Plantation Pleasure division and in 1988 was undefeated on the New
England "A" circuit in the driving division. Promise became renowned for
her excellence in driving and one of her most memorable performances
occurred at the North County Horse Show in Lancaster, New Hampshire in
June of 1987 where she and Paula again took the blue and were presented
the Arthur Teague Memorial Trophy.
Between 1984 and 1988, Promise and Paula made more trips to the winner's
circle than any other team showing on the New England Walking Horse
circuit. In 1989, they competed only in driving and trail to enable Paula
to begin campaigning her stallion, Suprnatural Sundust, in model and
plantation classes.
In 1982, Promise was nominated for the Versatility Program and in 1984,
became TWHBEA Adult Versatility Champion. It took almost five more years
to complete enough points for the Supreme title. This was due in part to
the fact that many of the versatility classes, such as driving, had few
entries. Also, many area shows did not allow Tennessee Walkers in any
class that called for a "trot," including trail. However, through the work
of several dedicated Walking Horse enthusiasts, including Paula, these
rules were eventually changed enabling Promise to finish her points in
1989 with only four classes. Victories are almost certainly not gained
without some trials and tribulations. Paula spent many hours convincing
Promise that there were no alligators under those artificial bridges!
In 1986, when Promise was entered in her first driving class, there were
four or five entries at most of the shows in that division. Paula knew
that she and Promise would have to win just about every driving class they
entered in order to obtain the minimum number of points taking several
years with only three major shows offering that class. They did just that!
They won their first driving class and many thereafter. Even after an
eight-month layup due to an injury in 1988, Promise, in her usual style,
won the driving class at the very first show of the 1989 season. This,
after not being harnessed to the buggy all winter!
In recent years, there has been no Tennessee Walking Horse in New England
that has surpassed Promise's show ring record and number of championship
titles. She has been an ambassador of the breed at demonstrations
throughout New England. Always a reliable trail mount, she helps Westwind
Farm's promotion efforts having delighted many people with their first
ride on a Tennessee Walker. With unequaled ability, she epitomizes the
versatility horse.
The exceptional qualities of this mare have not gone unnoticed by the
local newspapers. In 1981, her pictured appeared on the front page of the
Shelbyville Times Gazette during the National Futurity, and she has been
featured in Voices and The Newtown BEE, both Connecticut papers. The
February 1987 Horse and Horseman magazine contained a picture of Promise
being driven and she has appeared in the Horseman's Yankee Pedlar, a New
England based publication. Last year, The American Journal, a Maine paper,
which covers several towns did a story about Westwind Farm, its Tennessee
Walkers and Merry Girl's Promise, the farm's winningest horse.
Promise will be temporarily retired from the show ring to assume a career
as a broodmare. Westwind Farm is expanding its training program and Paula
is accepting outside horses for training as well as offering individual
instruction for riders on their own horses. Plans are in the works for the
farm to host several mini-clinics in the fall.
Paula and fiance, David Ross, have great hope for the future of the
breeding program at Westwind Farm which is based on line-breeding
principles and surrounds the success of Paula's stallion, Suprnatural
Sundust. He has already begun to prove himself in the show ring and as a
sire. He won the 1989 New England and Maine state Model Champions and was
Reserve TWHBEA National Model Champion. He has foals all over New England
and now in Canada. With a little luck, the foals of Suprnatural Sundust
and Merry Girl's Promise will continue to carry the banner for Westwind
Farm
(Reprinted from Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse
magazine, July, 1990)
Adult Supreme Champions
Youth Superior Champions
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