Tom Ferrebee Passes Away
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Trainer, breeder, statesman, Tom Ferrebee did it all during his long career. The well-respected horseman died, Wednesday, June 21 at the age of 74.
Early in his career Ferrebee worked for Jack Nevitt at Highview Stables in Ohio and then Dr. Lehman’s Hi-Tail Stables in Pennsylvania where he started a horse that became known as world’s champion CH Sabur’s Stiletto. Back to Ohio he worked at the famed Wakitatina Farm where he developed the 1977 Reserve World’s Champion Five-Gaited Stallion Supreme Hi Lite.
Ferrebee will also be remembered for winning the first UPHA Three-Gaited Classic Grand Championship at the American Royal with CH Baron Von Steuben. He then spent time in West Virginia with John Reynolds and Dr. Robert Roberts before opening the Tom Ferrebee Stables in 1980 in Westfield Center, Ohio. From there he trained numerous champions for Mrs. Alan R. Robson and Dr. Bill Clem, among others.
He stood and showed the stallions Supreme Hi Lite and CH Albelarm Supremacy, in addition to training stars like Karissa Hi Lite, Sumac Lady, CH Olympic Flame, CH Holy Fruit Salad, Lesley Anne, Truly Fair, Space Link, CH Albelarm Albelarm High Fidelity, Albelarm Witchcraft and Albelarm Sorcerer.
As President of the UPHA in 1988, Ferrebee was instrumental in representing the American Saddlebred in Washington D.C. the first time the industry had issues with being pulled into the troubles of the Tennessee Walking Horses. For his outstanding record as a horseman he was honored in 1992 with the UPHA Richard Lavery Horse Person Of The Year and inducted into the 1999 UPHA Tom Moore Hall of Fame and the 2015 World’s Championship Horse Show Hall of Fame.
A complete tribute will follow in an upcoming issue of Saddle Horse Report.
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