By Bonnie Smith
In the
early spring of 1985, my husband Bob,
son Bo and I moved from Houston to Valley View in the north Texas horse
country to a beautiful rolling-hilled farm with lush costal pastures. We
moved the horses and the BJS Stables operation and established Valley
View Farms. From here, we guided the last full show season of Jet Star’s
Delight. I broke him and trained him myself. He had had a very
successful show ring career, and undoubtedly heads the list for the
number of blue ribbons won by a plantation horse.
After years
of showing in English plantation
classes, we joined the Versatility Program in 1983 and ended the year
winning Reserve Adult High Point in both the English and Western
divisions.
Nineteen hundred
eighty-four was the height of Jet’s
participation in the Versatility Program. It was also a "fun" year
because he and I both learned new things. A TWHBEA Regional Heyday was
scheduled in the Houston, Texas, area in September. A month before the
Heyday, we began training over fences and around poles and barrels.
Jet decided, "this is fun!" Neither one of us had any formal
instruction. We just did what seemed to come naturally. I was pleasantly
surprised at his ability to be so versatile and to learn so quickly. He
had proven himself over and over as a show ring performer, but could I
teach a 15-year-old stallion to do fences, poles and barrels when I had
never done them myself? The results were exciting! Jet won the TWH Over
Fences and the Barrel Race classes, and was a close reserve in the Pole
Bending Class. He was also the Adult Heyday Champion, taking additional
blues in the Lite-Shod Futurity and Basic Reining classes, and earning
high placements in the Trail, Western, English and Water Glass classes.
At the
1984 State Fair of Texas
Horse Show in October, the large Southwest Walking Horse Breeders’
Association (SWHBA) Futurity classes were dominated by Jet and his three
daughters. They won the Stallion and Get-of-Sire Class (Delight
of Jet Star, Jet Star’s Angel and Jet’s Midnite Delite) over
four other well-respected stallions and their twelve get. The
Two-Year-Old Plain Shod class was won by Delight Of Jet Star, as was the
Two-Year-Old Halter class. Jet Star’s Angel won the Weanling Filly and
the Weanling Grand Championship over twenty-seven impressive weanlings.
During all of this excitement, Jet was also busy winning blues in
English, Western, and the Plantation Championship.
Jet Star’s
Delight achieved his Adult Versatility
Championship status in the summer of 1984. He closed out the year
winning the Adult High Point English and E-Z Rider divisions of the
Versatility Program and accumulating 139 versatility points in one year!
In 1985,
Jet’s three-year-old daughter, Delight Of Jet
Star, was teamed with our seven-year-old son Bo. Although their
previous show ring experience was limited, they made a great team and
were named SWHBA Juvenile Reserve Plantation champions.
That was just the beginning of this championship team! In November,
1989, they earned the final point to become Youth Superior Champions in
the TWHBEA Versatility Program. Their story was featured in the May
1990, issue of Voice. The 1985 show season was topped off by Jet Star’s
Delight winning the SWHBA High Point Plantation Horse for the fourth
year in a row!
After the
1985 show season I suffered from "burn out" of showing horses. The long
hauls and the anxiety attacks every time I went into the show ring had
taken their toll. We stayed at home and enjoyed the "vacation." Jet was
"put out to pasture" with only breeding duties and fly avoidance to
worry about. I enjoyed his freedom, too! But, alas, friends were urging
me to finish what I had started in the Versatility Program, to get his
Supreme Championship. A very dear friend, JoAnna Stinson from
Nacogdoches, Texas took the long drive north to teach us more about
jumping. We got a TWH Over Fences point while she was visiting. At the
end of the 1985, we needed five points in either Basic Reining or Over
Fences to complete the program. It might as well have been fifty-five!
A year
or so later, another division was added to the option/requirements in
the Versatility Program - Western Riding. It didn’t mean anything until
I started coordinating the 4-H Horse Show Program in our Cooke County.
Not knowing much about it (except that it looked like a complex pattern
in the Versatility Book), I was suddenly faced with having to learn all
about it in order to put on the local 4-H county show. As I became more
familiar with the pattern, I began to appreciate its discipline. It is
not difficult, and I feel that it is a true test of the Western ability
of any horse. In the fall of 1989, at my husband’s urging, I decided to
get the old, black stallion out of what he thought was permanent
retirement, shake off the cobwebs, and see if we couldn’t get those
final eight points in Western Riding. This time, the unsuspecting
"trainee" was 19 1/2 years old! He was probably thinking, "I get no
respect!"
At a
June horse
show there were enough entries that all he needed was a third place to
get those three points. His "order of go" was near the end of the class.
I agonized during each of my competitors’ performances, because there
were some very well executed patterns, including that of Youth Superior
Champions, Bo Smith and Delight of Jet Star! I prayed hard; I didn’t
need first or second, just that very precious third place. When we
didn’t get first or second, it seemed like hours before third place was
announced. When it was finally announced that Jet Star’s Delight and
Bonnie Smith had placed third, I was totally beside myself! I
immediately promised Jet Star’s Delight the permanent retirement he
thought he had already earned. Our announcer asked us back into the ring
to give us an impromptu retirement ceremony. There’s no turning back on
that retirement promise, now, Jet, because there were too many witnesses
present!
The
22-year-old
Supreme Champion went back "out to pasture", running up and down the
beautiful rolling hills of Valley View Farms, doing what ever grand old
stallions like to do best!
Note:
Jet Star's
Delight lived
life to the fullest, siring three other versatility champions:
Delight of Jet Star,
Jet Star's Memory and Night of Jet
Star.
He passed
away at the age of 29 years 7 months of age,
September First - Nineteen Hundred and Ninety Eight. He is missed by
many.
I would
like to thank Bonnie for
contributing her story & photograph of Jet Star's Delight, giving us the
opportunity to meet this extraordinary Champion Tennessee Walking Horse.
Her story was also published in the May, 1991 issue of the Voice
magazine.
