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Society

Bettie Crane and Robert Badie Sr. to wed September 16 at Strawberry MB Church

Bettie Crane and Robert Badie Sr.

Lillie M. Oliver cordially invites you to the wedding of her daughter, Bettie Crane, to Robert Badie Sr., the son of Wilson Reynolds and the late Bobbie Reynolds. Bettie is also the daughter of the late Fierce Oliver.

Bettie is currently employed with Landau in Olive Branch. Robert is currently employed with Albany Industry in New Albany.

The wedding ceremony will be held at Strawberry MB Church in Holly Springs on Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 3 p.m. A reception will follow at the groom’s father’s house on Highway 4 West.

All family and friends are invited to attend.

Museuming
Lois Swanee
Museum Curator

Farrah McAlexander wins championship

Farrah on her horse, Dr. Cash, the new Reserve World Champion

On Tuesday of last week, I jetted (new word) off to Shelbyville to the Tennessee Walking Show to celebrate my daughter Farrah and her horse. With me were my granddaughter Leake, her husband Joe and their sons Dylan and Colin.

That night Farrah won the Reserve World Championship with her horse, “Dr. Cash,” who is a seven-year-old gelding that is absolutely shining black and magnificent. The show was so thrilling to all those who love the world’s most beautiful horses.

The horses are trained to the nth degree and respond to the pressure of the rider’s heels or the turn of the bit in their mouths. The horse really gets into the spirit of the show and prances around the ring with their feet literally dancing to the rhythm of the organ music. Tennessee Walkers were bred from the stout, strong even-tempered Morgan horses. They were created over a century ago for the plantation owner who had to ride the plantation all day on a horse. These horses’ front feet are going in circles and their heads bob up and down like a merry-go-round horse (which was copied from the Tennessee Walker), but the saddle remains level and the rider glides along as though sitting in a rocking chair.

When Farrah was a child she began having a love affair with horses and is still having it. She and her friend, Jeanie Cox Fant, used to play with horses, not dolls. I didn’t know if they were going to speak or neigh.

A few years ago, Farrah’s three sons-in-law built her a barn and it is the cutest barn in the world, complete with walking horse silhouettes all over it. The name of it is “The Rocking Horse Stables.”

In the horse show ring when the horses are showing off and riders are poised for command the judges say, “Please present your horse into a canter.” The riders give the signal and the horse lifts his alternating front feet up and out and down and around in a swift circular motion. The horse is literally flying around the ring with his front feet giving an up and down seesawing effect. It is so beautiful. Then the judge says, “Please place your horse in a flat foot walk, or a running walk.” With a different signal from the rider, the horse follows instructions. It’s truly amazing.

In the 1930s Holly Springs had a Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration Show here at the Fair Grounds Arena. As I remember it, the Slayden brothers were the main ingredient. Everybody dressed up and went to the horse show and it, too, was magnificent. We were famous for our Walking Horse Show, which was once a year in the fall. The first was held during the Centennial in 1936.

A century or more ago, horses were a necessity if you wanted to go anywhere. Would you believe that women rode sideways, sitting on a sidesaddle?

At the museum we have Molly Crump’s sidesaddle. She was E.H. Crump’s mother and lived in Crump Place. He was a Congressman from Tennessee, mayor of Memphis and political boss of the whole area. Sitting on a sidesaddle, the woman held on with her right knee only. Imagine galloping down the road sitting on the horse sideways, holding on with only your right knee? It might have been easier to walk.

Back to Farrah and the show, the show lasted 10 days. The participants in the show almost moved into the barns with their horses. They set up front porches and flower gardens complete with fountains and lawn chairs. They have couches, color televisions, everything for a home except a bed. They go to the hotels at night. It is a great occasion and that is why it is called “The Celebration.”

We were only there that evening. The weather was perfect, complete with a full moon and a gentle, cooling breeze. Then we flew home in the jet with the moonlight flooding the plane. Since it took us one hour to fly and the distance was 360 miles, we were going 360 miles per hour and it took us an hour to get home. I asked the pilot how high up we were over the earth and he said, “23,000 feet.” We live in an age of miracles.

Farrah has another horse, this one a five-year-old stallion, which she has high hopes for. He, too, is magnificent, big and black. His name is “Busting.” Farrah is married to Larry McAlexander.

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