Spotlight 2004...

 

 "Our favorite question, "Are you ready?... It's Showtime..."

 

Send Betty an email...

 

 

 

      Betty Walls is no stranger to Horse Shows! Betty showed saddle horses 30 years before giving up the saddle seat and taking up prime organ seating in the show ring as a horse show organist. Now a lifetime KVHA member, her music keeps her in touch with the most satisfying hobby around.

     Betty has been playing the organ for more than 30 years. When not playing for horse shows - for the last 10 years, she plays the organ at two congregational churches in the upper Kanawha valley.

    "I quit playing the organ for several years and started to pick it up about 13 years ago" says Betty. "Since then I have adopted two churches to play for each Sunday morning. One Church has a service at 8:30 am and the other at 11:00 am. They are a short distance apart so it's not that bad".

    Betty has a very organized method to play horse shows. She carries a notebook with approximately 123 different tunes. Betty reads music and will match the tune with the particular class when she plays. She rarely plays the same tune twice.

   Betty has a best friend, Bunny Shreve, that provides a couple more hands at horse shows. Both are a team and work together nicely at many horse shows. "We both are church musicians, with a genuine love of horses".

  Betty plays a 300 watt speaker, programmed ahead, digital Technics 5000 synthesizer. The synthesizer is programmable and allows her to instantly change music and tempo at the call of the judge.

  "Not many, if any at all, will recall the debut of "Hoofbeats In Rhythm" for the KVHA several years ago", says Betty. "There we were sitting ringside on the back of a flatbed truck. Without benefit of a sound system, our equipment was a small chord organ and a keyboard blaring out at ear level of the horses as they went by. A learning experience, to say the least. Get away from ringside, have proper equipment and extremely important, set the tempo of the music to the various gaits of the horse".

  Each show season Betty and Bunny will  play for about  8 to 10 horse shows.

  "Our favorite question, "Are you ready?... It's Showtime..."

   We want to thank Betty and Bunny for providing a superb musical show for us... they truly add to the festivities. Please give them a pat on the back when you see them...

    It's SHOWTIME....