American Road Horse and Pony Association Hall of Fame Induction
Friday, August 25, 2006
Pat Cropper (center) is inducted into ARHPA Hall of Fame
Editor’s note: The following presentation was made at the World’s Championship Horse Show on Thursday night.
This year’s Hall of Fame inductee was the fourth of eight children born to Elmo and Alma Mawk in Lewis County, near Tollesboro, Kentucky. She was raised on a farm all her life; as a young girl, her father gave her a baby calf to raise and sell. A neighboring farmer happened to have a new foal in his field. She saw it and managed to trade the calf to the farmer, against her father’s advice, for her first horse named Fury.
Her education began in a four-room schoolhouse near Burtonville, Kentucky. She graduated from Tollesboro High School and attended Morehead State University. In 1969, she married Philip Cropper, and together they raised three children, Lareina, Anthony and Jarrod. She has six grandchildren, Kayla, Austin, Alivia, Reagan, Philip, and Kaitlynn.
She is the co-owner of the Maysville Flower Shop with her partner Emerson Wallingford. By going to horse shows with Bonnie Wallingford, she quickly developed a love for the road horses and ponies. Listening to Bonnie’s descriptions of the ponies, how they were judged, and how much fun they could be further enhanced her interest. With the help of her trainer, Lucky Wallingford, she made it into the ring with the road ponies Sand Piper and B. P. Tigerseye, and the road horses Glory Hunter, Mickey Mouse, Wiseman, Jill’s Flash, and Come N Cheer.
Surgery on her leg in 1998 was a reason for concern, because her doctors told her she could never drive again. They did not know her determination to get back in the bike and show; no matter what the outcome, she just had to drive and show – win or lose.
Six years ago, she was elected as secretary for the American Road Horse and Pony Association. As Raymond Shively says, “She is the force behind the Association, and she makes sure that things get done. Because of her, the Road Horse and Pony Show takes place every year. She makes sure that all the classes are sponsored and will hound you until you do sponsor a class.” She serves on the Roadster rules committee and the ARHPA Museum. She is a non-voting member of the USEF affiliates working group, and started the ARHPA show on her own, for which she has managed to secure the funding necessary to keep it going.
Because of her affiliation with the ARHPA, she has made a host of new friends from all over the country. She treasures her conversations with Sam Brannon and Raymond Shively. She has to discuss each and every class with Emerson, both pro and con, and it just isn’t the same if she can’t interrupt Mike and Kathy’s golf game at least once a week.
She is proud of the growth of the roadster division, the work of the USEF committee, and the support of the ARHPA members. She enjoys her multiple phone conversations with ARHPA members and knows that she is considered one of three things: a pest, a necessary evil, or someone who gets things done, despite the best efforts of those around her.
To be nominated to the Hall of Fame is more than she could ever hope for, and to be the first woman inducted is a dream never dreamed. The 2006 Road Horse Hall of Fame inductee is Patricia Mawk Cropper.
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