Winston Wiser (1910–1961) was a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer from Shelbyville, Tennessee, who won five World Grand Championships on three separate horses.
 Wiser on Merry Go Boy in 1947 | |
| Occupation | Horse trainer |
|---|---|
| Discipline | Performance Tennessee Walking Horse |
| Born | January 23, 1910 Bedford County, Tennessee |
| Died | March 31, 1961 (aged 51) Shelbyville, Tennessee |
| Major wins/Championships | World Grand Championship in 1943 World Grand Championship in 1947 World Grand Championship in 1948 World Grand Championship in 1955 World Grand Championship in 1956 |
| Significant horses | |
| Black Angel, Merry Go Boy, Go Boy's Shadow | |
Life
editWiser was born in Bedford County, Tennessee on January 23, 1910, to James Daniel Wiser and Laura Ferrell Wiser. He later married Katherine Morris. The couple had 3 children,[1] including a daughter, Judy, who also became a horse trainer and won the World Grand Championship in 1976.[2]
Career
editWiser began his career training horses on his family's farm in Wartrace, Tennessee, where his stables, Wiser's Walking Horse Stables, were later located.[3] Wiser won a total of 5 World Grand Championships at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in his career, beginning with the mare Black Angel in 1943.[4] Wiser trained and partly owned the stallion Merry Go Boy, who was bred by Wiser's brother Archie. Shown by Winston Wiser, Merry Go Boy won the Weanling Colt class in the 1943 Celebration. The next year he was the Yearling Colt winner, and was the Three-Year-Old World Champion in 1946. The same year Wiser showed him in the World Grand Championship for the first time, but the pair were defeated by Midnight Sun. Wiser and Merry Go Boy returned to the World Grand Championship in 1947 and won. They repeated the following year, which was the first time the Celebration was held on its specifically-built Celebration Grounds in Shelbyville.[5] Wiser won his fourth World Grand Championship on Go Boy's Shadow, a son of Merry Go Boy, in 1955. The next year, 1956, he and Go Boy's Shadow won the class again. It proved to be Wiser's final championship before his death.[6] Wiser remains the only person ever to win 5 World Grand Championships in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry.[7]
Death
editWiser was shot to death by his then-16-year-old daughter Judy the last day of March, 1961, during a family argument at their home in Shelbyville, Tennessee.[8] A judge later ruled that the pistol shooting was justifiable homicide, as Wiser had threatened Judy and her mother. Wiser and Katherine had been separated prior to the altercation.[9] Wiser was 51.[10]
References
edit- ^ "Winston Wiser 1910-1961 - Ancestry". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- ^ "Golden Oldies-Go Boy's Shadow - The Walking Horse Report". The Walking Horse Report Online. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- ^ Horses and horsemanship. - Full View - HathiTrust Digital Library - HathiTrust Digital Library. Animal agriculture series. Danville, Ill. 1963. Retrieved 24 January 2018 – via babel.hathitrust.org.
- ^ "100 Years Of Walking In Wartrace". www.twhbea.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-23.
- ^ "Tennessee Walking Horses - Merry Go Boy 431336Homepage". www.walkerswest.com. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- ^ "Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- ^ Russell, George B. (24 January 1967). "Hoofprints in time". A. S. Barnes. Retrieved 24 January 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Daytona Beach Morning Journal - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- ^ "Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- ^ "A roundup of the sports information of the week". Retrieved 24 January 2018.