Introducing Your Executive Committee:
Pat Stout, Horse Shows Vice President

By Sarah Gee
©Voice, June 2007

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Pat Stout is a graduate of Meridian High School and Highline College. She is the mother and two, Michael and Theresa Carpinito, and the stepmother of two, Brandon and Bo Stout. She and husband Noble, whom she met at an NHSC Judges Clinic in 1999, have been married for seven years.

As a horse crazy girl, Pat spent as much of her childhood as possible at her uncle’s diary farm riding horses bareback with just a halter and rope. After graduating from high school and college, she could not wait for the day when she would be able to indulge her passion for horses once again.

That day came in 1989 when she bought four pleasure horses for she and her kids to enjoy. One of those horses happened to be a Tennessee Walking Horse. That horse’s unique gait and sweet disposition hooked Pat and her kids. A little later, Pat bought her daughter Theresa a spotted saddle pony. The pony needed training and that’s how Pat found Lane Curry’s Tennessee Walking Horse barn in Maple Valley, Washington. The barn was only 20 minutes from Pat’s home and it wasn’t long before Pat and her kids were taking riding lessons and even showing. With Pat’s blessing, Lane traveled to Tennessee to look for a horse for Theresa, he came back with a huge surprise for Pat – a beautiful grey mare named Iron Eagle’s Revelation. At that point there was no denying Pat’s love for the Tennessee Walking Horse.

When asked what she admires most about her breed of choice, Pat replies, “I admire the versatility, smooth gait, and the disposition of the Tennessee Walking Horse. For a number of years Theresa and I showed our four different horses - a performance show horse, a show pleasure horse, a plantation pleasure horse, and a versatility horse. Each of those horses had great dispositions and wonderful gaits to ride, yet they were in totally different divisions. It is truly a versatile breed.”

Pat has had horses in training with several trainers including Lane Curry and Laurie Toone in Washington and Mike McCormick, Ramsey Bullington, David Landrum, Jeff Givens, Bobby Hugh, Allan Callaway, and Bill and Kevin Bailey. Discussing her best memory from her time in Tennessee Walking Horses, Pat states, “My favorite memory is showing at the Inland Empire Show in Ellensburg, Washington in 1995. I won the overall High Point Adult Award with Iron Eagle’s Revelation and Theresa won the overall High Point Youth Award with Pride’s Flame. We had a lot of great moments showing together, but that one was really special.”

Currently, Pat and her husband Noble own eight Tennessee Walking Horses and one Hackney Pony, which they keep at their farm in Cookeville, Tennessee. They typically raise one foal a year out of Iron Eagle’s Revelation and sired by Pat’s old performance show horse, Fashion’s Allure. For the past several years, the Stouts have experienced quite a bit of success showing five offspring from this cross. Pat relates, “It’s great to have shown both parents and now to be able to successfully show their offspring in the ring.”

Aside from breeding and showing, Pat has served the walking horse industry in a variety of capacities. In Washington, she was actively involved in the TWHBEA of Washington, the Tennessee Walking Horse Exhibitors Association of Oregon (TWHEAO), and the Western International Walking Horse Association (WIWHA). She helped organize the Tennessee Saturday Night Horse Show and the WIWHA Regional Futurity, and she started a TWHBEA Regional Versatility Show. Since relocating to Tennessee, she has been involved with the Upper Cumberland Walking Horse Association, helping to start and run their Regional Futurity. She has also served as the President of the Pleasure Walking Horse Association of Tennessee and as a board member for the Walking Horse Owners Association. In 2006 she was honored with the TWHBEA Pleasure Horse Ambassador Award.

A TWHBEA National Board Member for the State of Washington from 1997 – 2000, Pat previously served as Horse Shows Vice President in 1999 and 2000. She was elected as a National Director for Tennessee in 2006.

With nearly two decades of involvement, Pat is well aware of the challenges facing our industry. She declares, “The greatest challenge is getting everyone on the same page to promote this great breed. We need to get positive exposure for the horse. We need to clean up the sore horse, whether it is padded or pleasure, and we need to educate people on the attributes of this smooth riding horse. We have a fantastic product to market and it’s a horse so versatile that it can be a performance show horse or a backyard family horse. We have a breed of horse that is growing in popularity across the word, not just in Tennessee, and we need to show that we are honorable in our breeding, showing, and selling of this horse.”

Pat’s goals during her tenure as Horse Shows Vice President are myriad, “Of course, I would like to see growth in our shows with new events springing up across the country showing the versatility of our breed. We need to customize the shows to meet the needs of the different regions. My main goals, though, are for our Futurities. I would like our National Futurity to be a true Futurity, not a Sweepstakes. I would like it to be a premier showcase for all of our breeders. I would like to see a sticker, or something, put on the foal’s papers when it is Futurity nominated, so new owners could see that it really in nominated and keep it nominated. I would like to tie our Regional Futurities into our National Futurity like they were originally designed to be. And I would like to see a new fee structure to help fund our Regional Futurities and much more advertising and promotion of all the Futurities.”