Honoring, “The Governor,” His Final Days & Life’s Work
Dedication
To the memory of Jonathan Sheppard, the Greatest conditioner of all time and to the great men and women who deserve the best in their final days.
For our loved ones, the elderly. who are abused psychologically and physically – who suffer in silence, without a voice.
Author’s Preface
Many of us owe our success to having enjoyed the privilege of being under the tutelage of Great Conditioner, Master Horseman, Jonathan Sheppard!
Jonathan’s spirit lives on within us and through us! Our great horsemanship skills are the legacy of Mr. Sheppard’s dedication to teaching us, schooling us and keeping us under the shadow of his wings!
It is With Anticipation I share the following:
Jonathan was a Sheppard of men and women. There never was before, nor will there ever be again, a thoroughbred conditioner as great as Jonathan Sheppard!
We called him, “The Governor”.
Mr. Sheppard governed well. He assigned the correct rider for the chosen horse, the correct assistants to his spread-out stables and the best surface to each, individual horse. Mr. Sheppard’s instructions were always wise and well thought-out. When Mr. Sheppard made any error, he admitted to doing so and taught us how to improve from our mistakes. He encouraged us to certainly grow in a world of uncertainty. I recall John Fitzgerald Kennedy saying, “An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.” Mr. Sheppard was a man of correction, of determination, of compassion and of great wit!
I take zero credit for my success on the flat track, between the rails, or over timber obstacles or across brush fences. I dedicate a vast portion of my skill and ability to the faith which Jonathan Sheppard had in me, intermingled with the teachings he shared with me. Jonathan taught me to have faith in the horse, to encourage the horse properly and to work together with many adverse people of differing personalities. Mr. Sheppard offered me many opportunities, however, he never handed those fruits to me; Jonathan expected me to earn them, to grow-into them and to mature from such privileges.
Mr. Sheppard, a man of his word- a most honorable man of hard work and dedication, was always working for his horses. Their well-being was his life’s work. Mr. Sheppard had thrown his cross for me- the reins of such great responsibility, time and time, again! The Governor taught me to earn every purse I had expected to win! Our winnings, alone, were not the prize- the reward was the hard work which went in to winning any prize! He was the humblest of men!
Jonathan looked forward to teaching young men and women, to enrich our lives. “Shepp” had his moments! “I would love racing if it weren’t for the people!” Jonathan vented to me , one day, out of frustration over some unruly racing officials of Deleware Park. (He was sitting in the driver’s seat of his car, in Camden, at the time, just about to embark to the airport.) Regardless of his well-founded frustrations, people were always Jonathan Sheppard’s legacy!
I once complained to Mr. Sheppard about a lazy worker whom I wanted to fire from his Camden, South Carolina stable (at Springdale Racecourse). “Why don’t we just get rid of him if he’s just so awful?” I pleaded.
“You know what, Chip,” he answered me, “You have to let some things go; otherwise, you’ll find yourself standing in the shedrow, alone, with a pitchfork in your hand!”
Mr. Sheppard employed people of all walks of life, had compassion for people and gave leeway to those who, otherwise, had never received such leeway elsewhere! He was a kind, loving man- to his horses and to all people! Mixed Up with all that love was, also, his sternness- Jonathan’s high standard. Jonathan always set the bar very, very high; and we did not limbo under that bar! Jonathan raised us all up above that bar!
Jonathan Sheppard instilled self-confidence and self-reliance in all of us, mankind and beast, alike! We are Jonathan Sheppard’s undying legacy.
He was The Governor.
The horses whom Jonathan allowed us to work with, to succeed with, to condition, to experience life with, to earn with and to love, … those steeds may be long-gone, passed-away, now; but Jonathan Sheppard, lives-on alongside those steeds in our hearts, Forever Together!
Introduction
“Expect the Best; but be prepared for the worst!”
Jonathan Sheppard
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: Who Was Mr. Sheppard?
CHAPTER 2: Words From People Who’s Lives Jonathan Changed
CHAPTER 10: Jonathan’s Final Days
Bibliography
Chapter One
Who Was Jonathan Sheppard?
The Governor
We called him, “The Governor”.
Chapter Two
Words From People Who’s Lives Jonathan Changed
“I believe Mr. Sheppard made me a better human being. He taught me to just trust the process. Don’t question it, just trust. Go down there to the end & just keep turning left, is what he’d say. I believe that many of those experiences made me never question my FAITH that God will always see me through anything. Just trust. Just have FAITH.”
Stephanie Scissione
“If you’re going to do a job, do it to the best of your ability. Don’t throw broken things away, they can & will not simply be replaced. Learn to work with what you have. (which later in life, I realized that that also pertains to horses, and people, not just pitchforks)”
Stephanie Scissione
“I actually never worked for the Governor but did school and won some stakes races for him. Gorky Park was the stakes horse I won on.
James (Chuck) Lawrence
I worked for Burley Cocks whom Jonathan Sheppard came up under and the the Boss and Mrs. Cocks loved telling stories about Jonathan Sheppard leaving or coming in a VW Bug with only change in his pocket to go on to be the best to ever to saddle a steeplechaser.
Mr. Cocks had a horse ready from start number one to win but wouldn’t back off. Jonathan Sheppard learned how to have them ready first out and keep them going all year. I try to put both of their training into mine and every time I’m struggling I go back and say what would they do and I start running well again. If you have put the work in they give you everything they have.
They both taught a horse how to want to win through the workouts.”
CHAPTER Ten
Jonathan’s Final Days
-Elderly Abuse-
“I’m a prisoner in my own home!”
Jonathan Sheppard’s words to Marie (APPROXIMATE DATE:)
Who Is Marie Montgomery Riggs?
Bibliography
Chapter 1:
- 1. With Anticipation equibase profile and photo
- 2. PSALM 91:4
- 3.President John F. Kennedy said this in his address to the American Newspaper Publishers Association on April 27, 1961, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
- 4. Sternness ROMANS 11:22
- 5. Mixed Up equibase profile and photo
- 6. Forever Together