By Sarah Gee
©Voice, July 2007

Everett Shipp and Go Boy’s Evening Star.

One of the most prominent Tennessee Walking Horse trainers on the east coast during the 1950s and 1960s, Everett Shipp loves to reminisce about his time in the industry. Everett grew up in Rockingham County, Virginia. After graduating from high school and marrying his sweetheart, Geraldine, in 1951, he took a job in the poultry business, which quickly convinced him that he needed to find a different line of work. Fortunately, in 1952, well-known Tennessee Walking Horse owner C.C. Turner ran an ad in the local newspaper seeking barn help. Everett was quick to answer and it wasn’t long before he cleaning stalls at Turner’s barn.

After a short while, Turner noticed Everett’s rapport with the horses. Turner encouraged Everett to try his hand at breaking colts, he also let Everett ride some of his better horses to see how well he handled them. At that time, Charlie Mullins was Turner’s primary trainer. Charlie took Everett under his wing and by 1954 he was in the show ring. In 1955, Charlie left Turner’s and Everett became the head trainer.

During his tenure at Turner’s, Everett was responsible for transporting Turner’s most prized stud – Merry Go Boy. Everett remembers, “When C.C. hired me he knew I had my chauffer’s license from driving a school bus during my senior year of high school. Once he noticed how well I could handle his horses, he started trusting me to haul Merry Go Boy, first to French Brantley’s barn in Manchester, Tennessee, and later to S.W. Beech’s place in Belfast, Tennessee. I would take Go Boy down in February and come back for him in September. I can remember a lot of times after unloading Go Boy, S.W. would take me up to Winston Wiser’s where I would be allowed to ride Go Boy’s Shadow or over to Vic Thompson’s where I would just mess around. I got to know Vic really well.”

In 1954, Everett attended his first Celebration, he calls that trip one of the most memorable events during his time in the industry. He relates, “The walking horses that were there were incredible. I had no idea there was such a demand for the breed. C.C. always talked about the great horses, and on that trip I got to go out to Harlinsdale Farm and see Midnight Sun and all the colts.”

He stayed on at Turner’s until 1956 when he moved to George Livingston’s barn in York, Pennsylvania for two years. He returned to Turner’s in 1958 and stayed until 1963 when he went to work for C.B. Graves in Stanley, Virginia. From 1968 until 1971, Everett leased Graves’ barn and operated an independent training facility.

A second memorable event occurred while Everett was at Livingston’s. He recalls, “The first time I rode a really good horse was when George and I visited Vic Thompson’s stable in 1957. Vic let me ride Mr. Sensation and Sun’s Jet Parade around the barn a couple of times. To be able to ride a really good horse like Jet Parade, who went on to win the world championship a few days later, that’s something you really remember.”

Reminiscing about the horses he trained, three clearly stand out for Everett. Of the first, Go Boy’s Sarah Red, he says, “She was a three-year-old when I started showing her. She was a great little horse who was a natural and easy to train. She always placed either first or second, depending on where we showed.”

Another of Everett’s favorite horses was Go Boy’s Evening Star. A very talented stallion, under Everett’s guidance, he showed 22 times and earned 21 first place ties and one second. He brought Everett what he calls his greatest moment in the show ring. He explains, “Back in 1962 I was showing Go Boy’s Evening Star at the Celebration. He was the only horse I had that was good enough to go up against the boys in Tennessee. I had made the good workout in the aged stallion class but on the first way of the ring he broke down and I had to excuse myself. I was disqualified from the stake class on Saturday night but I had made that workout showing against some of the greatest trainers in the industry. To be able to go up against Sam and Donald Paschal, Steve Hill, Elmore Brock, C.A. Bobo, and all the big boys and have a chance to place at the Celebration, I knew then that I had made it as a trainer.”

The Rolling Duchess is the third horse on Everett’s list of favorites. This gifted mare carried Everett to stake victories at several of the most prestigious shows in the east including Fort Belvore, Virginia, and Quentin, Pennsylvania. Her numerous show ring victories earned her the Virgina Horse Show Association Open Division High Point Award.

Recognized as one of the best trainers on the east coast by “The National Horseman” magazine, Everett even had a brush with fame during his training career. At the 1963 Washington International Horse Show in Washington, DC, Everett was filmed showing Shadow’s Big Star. The footage was used in the Walt Disney television movie “The Horse In The Grey Flannel Suit.”

At that same show, Everett noticed a woman and a group of men admiring his horses. He later found out that it was First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and the secret service. He remembers, “Not long after the class that they had filmed, a woman had come to the stalls and was looking at my horses. There was also a bunch of men looking at the horses. When they asked me about them, I was kind of short because I didn’t realize who they were. It wasn’t until they were leaving that the last man asked me if I knew who the woman was. I said I didn’t and that’s when he told me she was the President’s wife.”

Everett stopped training horses full time in June of 1969. He explains, “I’d made horses my life until June of 1969. You can’t make any money in the horse business unless you buy and sell, and unless you don’t mind lying. I just wasn’t comfortable with that. Also, there’s no retirement fund for horse trainers. I guess I was tired of the instability.” Since 1969, Everett has worked for Howel Metal Company in New Market, Virginia. He’s held several positions and even retired at one point only to have the company beg him to come back. From 1973 to 1991, he drove full time for Howel, accumulating over two million accident free miles. Currently he runs a coiling machine.