Cleveland Heard stepped onto a concrete ledge built up a few inches from the floor of his garage and dusted the cobwebs off a
row of impressively large rosettes and ribbons. He removed a picture frame and, pushing aside other ribbons, he revealed a 25-year-old photograph of himself mounted on Midnight George. “That was one of my favorite horses,” Heard said, “and this was taken at one of the Marshall Lions Club horse shows &mdash at least I think it was a Lions Club show. It would be difficult for Heard to pinpoint the occasion since his love affair with show horses spans five decades. To the left of the television set in his den is a photograph showing Heard on horseback, but he dismisses it. “That’s not one of my favorites,” he says. From his wallet, he pulls three small pictures, again of himself on horseback. “These are my favorites,” he explains, fanning the photos out on the kitchen table. “This one,” he said pointing, “is Last Flash of Coin. In 1992, I won a world championship in speed racking with him. He could get up to 30 miles per hour in speed racking.”
Heard said he began riding horses as a boy with his brother.