Joe Webb (born 1928) was a
Tennessee Walking Horse trainer who won three World Grand Championships, and was named Trainer of the Year in 1978.
Career
Webb was born in 1928 and grew up near
Lamar, Arkansas. He began training horses at a young age and liked to teach them tricks. At one point, he had two horses and two
mule
The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...
s which he taught to perform together; the horses would hold each end of a rope while a mule jumped over it.
Webb first began training
Tennessee Walking Horses after meeting Dr. Porter Rodgers while attending college. Rodgers later owned Rodger's Perfection, Webb's first World Grand Champion. Webb trained Tennessee Walking Horses exclusively out of a show stable at
Searcy, Arkansas
Searcy ( ) is the largest city and county seat of White County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2019 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 23,767. It is the principal city of the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area ...
.
He trained the
World Grand Champions Rodger's Perfection, winner in 1959; Perfectionist's Carbon Copy, winner in 1964; and Mark of Carbon.
Webb trained the 1968 Reserve World Grand Champion, The Entertainer. Webb's second World Grand Champion, Carbon Copy, was trained to obey voice and whistle commands. Webb would entertain visitors to his stable by putting the horse through his gaits, riderless. In 1971, Webb hoped to win the World Grand Championship with another horse, but was prevented from entering the
Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration
The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration (TWHNC), sometimes known as the Celebration, is the largest horse show for the Tennessee Walking Horse breed, and has been held annually in or near Shelbyville, Tennessee since its inception in 19 ...
at all by an outbreak of
Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. The virus caused a quarantine to be put in place, blocking horses from Arkansas and several other states from going into Tennessee, where the Celebration is held. In 1978, Mark of Carbon, Webb's third World Grand Champion, beat 15 other horses to win the stake. The same year as Mark of Carbon's win, Webb was named Walking Horse Trainer of the Year.
Webb wrote a how-to book entitled ''The Care and Training of the Tennessee Walking Horse'', which was first published in 1967.
References
{{Reflist, 30em
Tennessee Walking Horse breeders and trainers
Date of death unknown