Winston Wiser

Winston Wiser

Wiser on Merry Go Boy in 1947
Occupation	Horse trainer
Discipline	Performance Tennessee Walking Horse
Born	(1910-01-23)January 23, 1910 Bedford County, Tennessee
Died	March 31, 1961(1961-03-31) (aged 51) Shelbyville, Tennessee
Major wins/Championships	World Grand Championship in 1943 World Grand Championship in 1947 World Grand Championship in 1948 World Grand Championship in 1955 World Grand Championship in 1956
Significant horses
Black Angel, Merry Go Boy, Go Boy's Shadow

Winston Wiser (1910–1961) was a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer from Shelbyville, Tennessee, who won five World Grand Championships on three separate horses.

Life

Wiser was born in Bedford County, Tennessee on January 23, 1910, to James Daniel Wiser and Laura Ferrell Wiser. He later married Katherine Morris and the couple had 3 children.^[1]

Career

Wiser began his career training horses on his family's farm in Wartrace, Tennessee, where his stables, Wiser's Walking Horse Stables, were later located.^[2] Wiser won a total of 5 World Grand Championships at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in his career, beginning with the mare Black Angel in 1943.^[3] Wiser trained Merry Go Boy, a stallion, to repeat World Grand Championships in 1947 and 1948. Wiser won his fourth World Grand Championship on Go Boy's Shadow, a son of Merry Go Boy, in 1955. The next year, 1956, he and Go Boy's Shadow won the class again. It proved to be Wiser's final championship before his death.^[4] Wiser remains the only person ever to win 5 World Grand Championships in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry.^[5]

Death

Wiser was shot to death by his then-16-year-old daughter Judy the last day of March, 1961, during a family argument at their home in Shelbyville, Tennessee.^[6] A judge later ruled that the pistol shooting was justifiable homicide, as Wiser had threatened Judy and her mother. Wiser and Katherine had been separated prior to the altercation.^[7] Wiser was 51.^[8]

References