ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 20, 1996 TAG: 9606200055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
HORSE TRAINING is a family affair to the Wheelers of Albemarle County.
The horse business has divided the Wheeler family of Cismont Manor Farm.
On one side is family matriarch Sallie Wheeler and her fellow aficionados of saddle horses and hackney ponies. On the other side, almost alone now, is patriarch Kenneth Wheeler Sr., a trainer of hunters whose reputation is almost as vast as the rolling family lands around Keswick.
The parting of the ways was perfectly amicable.
``Sallie used to ride hunters and she's always come to see my horses and I've always liked watching the saddle horses,'' said Kenneth Sr. ``I enjoy both breeds.''
Joining Sallie Wheeler in the saddlebred camp are Kenneth Jr. and his wife, Ceil, a Keswick-based trainer, and the middle Wheeler son, Gordon ``Cappy'' Wheeler, who has now also started raising and training saddlebreds professionally after taking a job at L.A. Stables in Keswick.
``I used to ride the hunters myself, but my mother's influence brought me to the saddlebreds,'' said Cappy Wheeler, 25. ``I got my first saddlebred at age 17 and that sealed the deal.''
Ceil, 35, was a Callahan from Bristol and she's been riding saddlebreds all her life and training them since she was in college. In fact, she transferred from the University of Kentucky to East Tennessee State to be nearer her horses.
Ceil and Cappy see more of each other on the show circuit than they do of father Kenneth now that there are fewer multibreed shows than in the past. The 25th annual Roanoke Valley Horse Show, going on this week at Salem Civic Center, affords the family an infrequent chance to reunite at the competitive arena.
``Horses have always been a family affair for us Wheelers,'' Cappy Wheeler said.
It starts at the top with the parents, who have ridden and trained distinguished mounts for a lifetime. Kenneth and Sallie met at a horse show. He's from Albemarle County, born no more than three miles from where he lives now, and is old Virginia from his clear blue eyes right down to the tips of his dust covered paddock boots. She's the daughter of the late Adolphus Busch of the St.Louis Busches, a family for whom a long relationship with the king of beers never involved a hangover.
Sallie Wheeler was suffering from laryngitis this week and was rendered almost mute. That left it to her husband to detail some of the family history: ``We hit it off well and have been married for 30 years and it has been as good a marriage as you could have,'' Kenneth Wheeler said. ``She's really helped me in the horse business. Looking at either a saddle horse or a hunter, she's the smartest lady I've seen about horses in general.
``I've had horses that I thought were pretty good and she's taken a look at them and said, `I hate to disappoint you, but you don't have much there.' Of course, she was right.''
Her side of the family has been known for its horses for years. The most famous of the Busch horses, the Budweiser Clydesdales, will continue a string of three appearances at the Salem show tonight and Friday.
That large a muscular breed is one for which Kenneth Wheeler Sr. says he can claim little expertise.
``You'll know as much about them as I do,'' he told a skeptical listener.
Ceil Wheeler is carrying on the family tradition of shrewd horsewomen. She's training out of Lakeview Manor, which is part of the larger farm at Cismont Manor.
``The Wheelers have very graciously offered me the use of their facilities,'' she said.
Ceil Wheeler said even though she and Cappy work with saddle horses, there is no rivalry.
``We don't have any horses who would compete against each other right now,`` she said.
It may be just as well that Cappy struck off on his own with the saddle horses instead of following his father with the hunters.
``Those are big shoes to fill,'' the son said. ``It's not just because I am biased and he is my father. I've heard reputable horsemen say that he is the greatest hunter trainer who has ever lived.''
``I don't know about that,'' said the elder Wheeler in his elegantly slow Central Virginia drawl. ``I have been very lucky and have had some very good horses.''
The elder Wheeler has both ridden and trained champions at the grand old shows in Devon, Pa., Harrisburg, Pa., and at Madison Square Garden in New York City; a man who recently for the 24th time won an award for having the best young horse at Devon. Nobody else has done it more than a handful of times.
In the past, Kenneth Sr. and Sallie respectively have been named Virginia Association and American Horse Show Association Horseman and Horsewoman of the Year. Both belong to the Virginia Horse Show Hall of Fame.
``He is known in his profession as a living legend,'' Cappy said. ``He is the complete horseman.''
HORSE TALES: The Colombian National Equestrian Team, which will compete in the Summer Olympics, took two of the top three spots in the $5,000 Welcome Stake Open Jumper Class Wednesday.
Manuel Torres rode Cartajena to first place and teammate Roberto Gonzalez atop Baro. Catch A Wave, ridden by Vicky Miller, took second.
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: PHILIP HOLMAN Staff Gordon ``Cappy'' Wheeler (left)by CNBwatches intently as Coye Landrum, the Roanoke Valley Horse Show's
farrier, works on the right front shoe of Cherry Red, one of
Wheeler's saddlebreds. color.