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One of the biggest treats of being the Club Historian, and gathering
these stories, is when you uncover the unexpected. As background - before going on any of my interviews I try to do my homework. I study the yearbooks, look up pedigrees, and come prepared with a list of what I hope are intelligent questions. But there's always that moment during a visit when the subject of my session comes up with that "special" story! And Curt was no exception. So without further ado, I'm
pleased to share with you this story which was written by Curt and
originally published in the 1964 May issue of The Morgan Horse Magazine. |
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A MORGAN... |
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Juanita's Pride saves the day for 60,000 people
and "Little Joe" as TV star performs at Shrine Circus |
 We
often hear how level-headed, intelligent, eager, but tractable
Morgan horses are, and here is more proof of these glowing terms.The Shrine Circus, an annual event in Rochester, New York, was held February 5 -8, 1964 at the War Memorial in that city. This year as their star attraction the Shrine engaged none other than Michael Landon, better know as "Little Joe" Cartwright of the famed television series, Bonanza. Little Joe made it known through his agent that he wanted a horse to ride in his act and the Shrine officials proceeded to obtain one for him. The day of the opening performance arrived, the star performer was introduced with a lot of fanfare and in rode Little Joe. The horse took one look at the screaming mob of approximately 9,000 people, the lights, heard the band playing and refused to budge any further. Then he decided the only way he wanted to go was backward. At this point Little Joe decided that it was best for him to dismount as gracefully as possible which he did and walked the rest of the way. They tried him again at the end of his act in order to ride out of the arena but again the horse apparently wanted no part of such shenanigans and refused to budge - that was the end of the horse. The officials then offered to provide a new Chevrolet to drive him around the arena but Little Joe refused stating that he still wanted a horse. A call then went through to Curt Smith from Penfield, N.Y., a
suburb of Rochester, who is a member of the New York State Morgan
Horse Society and owns a few Morgans, to bring one of his horses up
the next morning for a try-out. |
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