Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 21, 1995 TAG: 9506210114
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Almost from the start, the evidence strongly suggested Claude Shiflet would end up in the horse business.
When he was 5 years old, Shiflet rode a pony off the family farm near Churchville in his first horse show.
He was buying and selling horses by age 14 and keeping his own string in his father's barn.
By 15, he was training American saddlebreds and accepting clients
The first time he asked his future wife, Alice, for a date, he was in Staunton to take a look at a horse. He inquired if she would like to come along.
``I didn't know the head of a horse from the tail,'' she said.
Spoken like the true city girl and doctor's daughter she was. The first time Claude saw her was when he and a buddy had come to gawk at the girls in a talent show at R.E. Lee High School in Staunton. Being a student there, she was doing a gymnastics routine that involved jumping over eight other girls.
``She looked like my kind of girl,'' he said.
And he turned out to be her kind of guy. They have been together ever since, raising four boys and a lot of saddlebreds. Now based in Asheboro, N.C., the Shiflets have come to the Roanoke Valley Horse Show in each of its 24 years.
``We like coming back home,'' said Claude, 62.
The show is continuing through the week at the Salem Civic Center. With more than 20 stalls under contract, Shiflet is among the show's most prominent exhibitors. His is the largest saddlebred contingent represented.
The Shiflets have had the saddlebreds take them to residences in West Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina, as well as Virginia. He has trained for other people and he has worked for himself, giving up on self-employment at his first try.
He has trained world champions and numerous reserve (runner-up) world champions. Alice Shiflet recalled the first champion, in 1966.
``I was sitting in the bleachers and it was so hot that you couldn't stand it with two babies, and I didn't notice that he'd won the world championship until somebody said, `Isn't that Claude's name they just called?''' she said.
The babies, Harrison and Doug, both got into the business. Harrison, 41, is a trainer/rider like his father, with whom he is in partnership. Doug, 38, is a ring photographer who works many shows, the Roanoke Valley among them.
Two other sons, 26-year-old Mark and 24-year-old Shane didn't go into the business, but they did pretty nicely for themselves. Mark is the manager of a plant where Ralph Lauren sportswear is produced, and Shane is an accountant with a Lake Tahoe address.
``Believe me,'' Alice said. ``I've lived in a man's world all my life. Of six grandchildren, five of them are boys.''
Harrison's youngsters ride and Matt, the eldest at 14, already is a show veteran.
``Saddlebred people create a family atmosphere,'' Harrison said. ``That's one of the best things about it.''
Not much can top the family atmosphere around the Shiflet barn, especially when Claude's older brother, Riley, brings his horse down from Churchville, as he has this week. The stories and laughter fly when the brothers get together.
``Why is it that you two remember things by the pretty girls you saw at the time?'' Alice wanted to know.
Claude is just one of those guys who has the touch. Back when he still was an unmarried farm boy, he dated a future Miss Virginia.
``Traded Miss Virginia for Alice,'' he said.
Miss Virginia might not have been such a quick study in the horse business. And she might have objected when a former Miss America named Anita Bryant planted one on his lips.
``She was giving the trophy at the West Virginia state fair one year and she gave Claude a kiss when he got his,'' Alice said. ``Harrison was just a little thing then. He said, `Who is that lady kissing Daddy?'''
The Shiflets moved to Asheboro in 1972 to start their own barn and opened the doors with three horses. These days, they work with 40. The string grew longer when Harrison, who had been on his own, joined the family firm and brought his customers with him.
Harrison is destined to take more of a role as his father winds down his career.
``But he won't ever completely quit,'' Alice Shiflet said.
There's a good reason for that, he said.
``You get so poor you can't get out.''
by CNB