West Tennessee Gaited Pleasure Horse Show May 19, 2007 The Spring 2007 West Tennessee Gaited Pleasure Horse Show was held on Saturday evening, May 19, 2007, at the Carroll County Civic Center Equestrian Arena in Huntingdon, Tennessee. This charity horse show benefits the Shriners Hospitals for Children, which owns and operates twenty two (22) hospitals nationwide for treatment of children with orthopedic and burn medical conditions. These services are provided free of charge for children under the age of eighteen (18). Twenty-three (23) classes of competition gave 132 entries an opportunity to show their horses or gaited mules, compete for ribbons, have a good time as well as benefit the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Co-sponsors of the horse show were extremely pleased with the quality of horses that participated in the spring show, and are encouraged to see this all lite-shod horse show continue to grow. Class Number 10 was a new class added to the 2007 horse show line-up in memory of Ricky Chism, a McKenzie, Tennessee native and avid field trialer. The “Ricky Chism Memorial Field Trial Class” hosted ten friends and horses that knew Ricky and enjoyed his company at field trials. All competitors and their horses were in field trial attire and tack, including trooper saddles and gear. An emotional exhibition was held prior to the class of competition, when Bill Suiter exhibited a bird dog formerly owned by Ricky, whose registered name is “Lady Volunteer” and call name is “Rose.” Rose was one of Ricky’s “derby” dogs and was riding with Ricky in February 2005, along with four horses and several other bird dogs, on their way to compete at a bird dog field trial on a plantation in Alabama, when Ricky’s rig was struck from behind by a hit-and-run driver on Interstate 65. All the horses and eleven dogs survived the crash, but Ricky was lost in the resulting collision. Rose proudly showed the spectators how a bird dog works off a horse as she circled the riding arena. They anticipate that the Fall 2007 horse show will be even larger in number of horses and spectators as word spreads about this all natural lite-shod horse show. The Fall 2007 horse show is scheduled in Huntingdon on September 29, 2007, at 6:00 p.m. Opening ceremonies for the spring show were provided by the Al Chymia Shrine Carroll County Mounted Patrol which performed a patriotic drill and ceremony routine set to “God Bless the USA.” The Shriners also sponsored the concession stand, cooked hot dogs and hamburgers, and sold over twenty dozen homemade cookies of which are becoming a tradition for the Shriners.