Tom Bass, Greatest Horseman Ever

Years ago, a friend gave me a copy of Tom Bass, Black Horseman, the story of the American Saddle Horse's famous trainer, the son of a slave girl and a plantation owner's son. It is an elegant rendering of slavery, emancipation, and the history of the emerging breed of American Saddlebreds and the reign of one of the breeds most notable trainers. It begins:

"In the East, it is said that those who are born in the shadow of God can fashion their kingdoms from a dream; a special people, they walk among animals as brothers. Such a person was Tom Bass."

Bass was a fine horseman from an early age; my favorite story involved a nine year old Tom and a belligerent old mule, Mr. Potts, whom Tom gaited and trained to canter backwards. Seeing Tom's gift with the mule, his white father also saw dollar signs and began buying up pedigreed renegades at the local sale barn for Tom to rehabilitate.

"There had been rumors, of course, that some mythical colored boy somewhere was training mules to canter backwards and making well mannered horses out of bad ones..."

If this book only told the stories of the killer, outlaw horses Tom Bass gentled, it would not be long enough. Each story is told with an acknowledgement to the horse as well as the man's simple, perfect genius. It would be enough to bask in the triumphs of those horses and the young trainer, but the task of making history was still to be told.

Since Bass was a black man, despite his blue-blooded father's pedigree, he was prevented from showing the high class Saddle Horses he trained. Until, as his father had done, the money signs began to appear to savvy businessmen in the business of selling high class Saddle Horses. It came down to a black mare, whom only Bass could handle, with a beauty that was impossible to deny.

On the day of the show, no incident occurred because all the local trainers heard there was a crazy horse entered and they were more than pleased that Bass was the one in charge of her. Talent trumped race. Still Bass was nervous and the performance of the mare was being compromised as a result. And Bass knew it.

"Good Lord, boy," a voice said to Tom. "You have got to be fearless. You have got to be in control. Our people need your victories." The voice of his grandfather brought Bass' attention back to the mare, and she immediately responded with a performance none present would ever forget. On that historic day, a young boy on a "killer" black mare took on race and conquered his own fear.

Bill Downey's book of Bass' life is a constant triumph. He is as delicate and humble in telling Bass story as Bass was in living it. There is a great deal of humor, feel good first place wins and that tingling sensation that occurs when you come across something that is especially moving. As with all biographies there is loss: people you come to know through the pages come and go, great horses come, great horses go- Lou Chief, Miss Rex, Rex McDonald and the incomparable Belle Beach, who preceded Bass in death by only a few months.

I generally don't read biographies. I don't like them to end; I always feel like I've lost a friend. I really did not want this book to end; I could have read on and on about this great man. Tom Bass, Black Horseman is a really beautiful book about a really gifted man who loved horses and helped to shape history just as beautifully. I highly recommend it.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

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