J.R. had polio at the age of nine and his doctor told his parents that a good way to strengthen his legs was to ride horses.
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Betty Jo Bird of Gallatin
Editor’s Note: The following article appeared in the Young At Heart section of the St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press on Friday, Aug. 20.
Macon R. and Florence Atha Bird lived in Faucett, Mo., where J.R., my husband, was born. They moved to New Point when he was five-years-old and then to Mound City when he was 15. J.R. and I were married Jan. 16, 1949. We moved to Gallatin in March 1951.
J.R. had polio at the age of nine and his doctor told his parents that a good way to strengthen his legs was to ride horses. From that time on, he always had a horse. In the evening he had to go to the pasture to bring in the milk cows. This was when he would saddle his registered quarter horses and train them. J.R. started out showing a barrel racing horse and then decided that the stock horse or reining class looked like something he wanted to do. His first reining mare was a palomino named Suzie Q. His first trophy was won with Old Suze. They won quite a bit, but then in the spring of 1952, J.R. came home with a sorrel filly named White Goose, better known as Red. Thus began a partnership between J.R. and Red that lasted until Red’s death in 1981 at the age of 29.
J.R. and Red own the Missouri Championship reining class seven out of nine times, the Iowa State Fair three years, the AkSarBen in Nebraska five times, the Pony Express Circuit Challenge trophy twice, were first at the Missouri State Fair and first at the American Royal numerous times. They placed fifth at the Illinois State Fair out of 85 head of reining horses.
Trophies and platters J.R. and Red won are still displayed in a trophy case in our home. There are 94 all together.
An article abut J.R. and Red was printed in the St. Joseph newspaper in 1956, after the two had won first place in stock horse performance at the St. Joseph Horse Show.
J.R. was a member of the Mound City Rider’s Club. They were well known for doing a square dance on horses. They performed at the American Royal and the Missouri State Fair and many other shows and fairs in Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. They also performed at the Red Bird Corral, a horse show which J.R. and our family had each September for nine years at our farm.
J.R. also enjoyed calf roping, and passed along his knowledge of horses to his children. His oldest daughter, Sharon, roped at the high school rodeo at Tarkio in 1967 and placed second. His son, Joe, and grandson, Jesse, still team rope at events in the area, and grandson, Dallas Lockridge, raises and trains quarter horses.