Jean Baum
Jean Baum Tribute Jean Stern Baum, 97 of Huddleston, Virginia, passed away Monday, July 3, 2023 in Carriage Hill Heath & Rehab. Center. She was born February 18, 1926 in Glencoe, IL, a daughter of the
late Emil Stern and Blanch Jetziner Stern.
She was a retired chemist and school teacher.
Mrs. Baum loved Tennessee Walking Horses and was very active in the Wisconsin show circuit for several years. She was an inspiration to people of all ages,
displaying her love of the Tennessee Walking Horse.
She showed Walk On Command until the age of 91. She served the Walking Horse community on the Walking Horse Owners’ Association board and as a Walking Horse Report correspondent.
She was inducted into the Celebration Hall of Fame in 2008. She was honored
with a special presentation at the Celebration in 2016, riding Walk On Command.
Notable horses she was involved with include Walk On Command, Regal Master, Love That Showboat, My Fair Play Lady (Big Mama), On Good Behavior, Ichabod Crane, Sir John Pryor, Pusher’s Firestone, Stroking On Sunday, Pride’s Different Strokes and Pushers Pure Delight.
Marie Brundige
Marie Brundige was 94 years old when she passed peacefully into the arms of her Savior on May 10, 2002.
Marie lived a life full of love for her family and her horses. She was married for 60 years to Dr. John Brundige.
Together Marie and John had four children and six grandchildren and enjoyed time with some of her great grandchildren. Marie and John lived all their lives in and near Chicago, Illinois. Sugar Grove, Illinois became the family home and farm.
Marie always had a second home near the horses. Many summers were spent in Kentucky and later in Shelbyville, Tennessee. As she followed the Tennessee
Walking Horse Show circuit her love and passion for the Tennessee Walking Horse became a huge part of her life.
Her first Tennessee Walking Horse was purchased in the early 1960’s. Marie soon excelled in raising and
showing Tennessee Walkers. For the rest of her life serving in the horse industry, owning Tennessee Walkers, and raising the foals became her passion. In 1992, her dream of owning an International Grand Champion became a reality with her beautiful
John Wright
parts of her life and led to lifelong friendships. Her daughter Jill and husband Herbert Derickson own “4 the Glory Farm” in Shelbyville, TN; with their children and grandchildren Maries legacy lives on. The original bloodline Marie helped develop are still producing champions today.
John H. Wright has been a TWH owner for over 50 years. At 97 years of age, John is now one of the oldest living WHOA members.
He was born in Guntersville, Alabama, and came to Middle Tennessee as a teenager when his family moved to Manchester during the Great Depression.
John was introduced to the Tennessee Walking Horse through his courtship and marriage to Ada Graham Brantley. Ada was the daughter of well-known
TWH breeder J. French Brantley and granddaughter of James R. Brantley, owner of TWH Foundation Sire, Alan F-1 and Foundation Mare, Gertrude F-84.
Ada’s brother, Charles E. Brantley, operated the Brantley Farm just outside Manchester when John married into the family.
This was the Farm where Foundation Horses Allan F-1, Roan Allen F-38, Brantley’s Roan Allen, Jr., and Merry Go Boy stood at stud and where Gertrude F-84 became the mother of the Walking Horse Breed.
In fact, every single one of today’s equine entries in the 2024 WHOA International (including all 55 entries in the Maiden Class) can trace their lineage back 12 or so generations to Allan F-1
and Gertrude F-84 and the Brantley Farm. John loves to share the history of the beginnings of the Walking Horse breed at Brantley Farm as he heard it firsthand from his father-in-law.
John recently donated the original breeding records of the original Foundation Walking Horses that had been kept by his wife’s family to the Walking Horse National Museum.
John began his own horse career by helping his brother-in-law, Charles, in halter breaking and showing weanlings. John soon acquired his first broodmare, Duchess Ann Shadow.
In the 1980s, John’s daughter, Kitty Keen, joined her father in training and showing weanlings. Yet Kitty also had a desire to
show horses under saddle. Kitty’s first show horse was a young mare named Pride’s Delightful Shadow, bred, owned, and raised by John and co-trained with Kitty on the Brantley Farm.
In 1998, John was introduced to another venue of showing, Versatility.
Versatility opened a whole new world of shows and training for John, Kitty, and his horses. Through the years John and Kitty enjoyed this new world while competing with horses that were bred, born, raised, and trained at the Brantley Farm by John and Kitty., Kitty currently competes with a Western Dressage show mare, Sheza Real Deal (better known as Angel).
John served on the board of directors of the Pleasure Walking Horse Association of TN (PWHAT) for nine years and served as its President in 2004. John also spent several years on the WHOA Board of Directors in the early 2010s.
In the early 2010s, Ada “Kitty” Keen and her father, John Wright, were part of a committee appointed by the Walking Horse Owners Association to make a major revision and update to the WHOA rules for Versatility events such as Western Riding, Basic Reining, and Obstacle Trail.
The WHOA Versatility disciplines use a totally different and separate rulebook from WHOA rail events. The Committee was very careful to communicate with other breed organizations for other horse breeds and disciplines that hold Versatility events including NHRA and AQHA. The rules for Walking Horse Versatility were changed to bring them to the closest possible agreement with the rules for other horse breeds.
These rule developments by the WHOA Versatility committee brought
Walking Horse Versatility into compatibility with most other horse breeds in America.
John’s wife, Ada Brantley Wright, passed away Aug. 25, 2014, at age 86. She was married to John for 62 years. WHOA dedicated the 2015 International Horse show to her memory.
In 2016, a challenge trophy in Ada’s honor was later set up for the Adult Open Obstacle Trail Championship class of the International.
John Wright, then 89 years old, was honored at the TWHBEA year-end award ceremony held on Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, by being named 2016 TWHBEA Pleasure Horse Ambassador.
John has not often ridden the horse he loves - that job largely belonged to his daughter, Kitty, with one exception. John had never ridden a horse in the show ring, until one day when John and fellow horse enthusiast, Jim Singleton, decided to form a two-entry Jack Benny class at a show in Murfreesboro. John and Jim both looked great on their horses, both horse/ rider pairs came out of the show ring with blue ribbons (so John has never received less than a blue ribbon in show ring competition). What a way to start (and end) a show riding career!
We are excited to announce the new International High Point Program! We will crown High Point Champions in the following four divisions:
11 & Under Youth
12-17 Youth
Adult Amateur
Versatility Horse
The 11 & Under Youth, 12-17 Youth and Adult Amateur awards will be based on total points accumulated for each rider throughout the show, including all horses ridden. These awards include both rail and versatility classes.
The Versatility Horse award will include versatility and dressage classes only and points will be accumulated for each horse, regardless of who the rider is.
We have many exciting awards to present and will recognize the top five exhibitors in each division. Many thanks to Rhonda Martocci for her generous sponsorship of four Customized Belt Buckles which will be engraved with each winner’s name!
We look forward to a record-breaking International and hope you come walk with us!
