Tom Bass moved his horse training operation from Kansas City back to Mexico, Missouri around 1899.  It was there that he built a stable and trained many award winning horses, that would go on to have quite an impact in many horse show competitions for years to come. In the early 1900’s, it was not unusual for Tom to have as many as thirty horses being housed and trained at his stable at one time.

Forest King 1462 was a bayish-brown gaited saddle stallion that was trained at Tom Bass’ stable in Mexico.  He was owned by D.L. Parrish of St. Louis, Missouri and was later sold to General Palmer of Colorado Springs in a deal set up by George Bernard.  Harrison stated that, “He was practically invincible in the model class.  He stood fifteen hands three inches high and had four white ankles and eyes like an eagle.  He possessed thin, smart and well-folded ears, a flowing wavy mane and a natural water spout tail which floated like a banner.”¹ In 1900, he competed at the second annual Jefferson City Horse Shows and the St. Louis Horse Show, where he won first in stallion class and also first in sweepstakes.  In Kansas City, he won first in the stallion class, as well as second in the Stillwell $1,000 class.  Forest King later became even better known as the sire of Tom’s favorite mare, Belle Beach.  When Forest King was sold to Colorado, Tom’s brother, Jesse Bass, rode the train to Colorado to make sure that the valuable stallion arrived safely.  Jesse agreed to stay with Forest King for awhile in Colorado.  However, Jesse was soon hired to take over General Palmer’s beautiful Glen Eyrie stable.

The prize winning stallion, Forest King

At the Jefferson City Horse Show in 1900, Tom had also shown his old-time high school favorite horse, Columbus. Another horse that he showed with success was Rex Blees, who was known as the famous “$3,000 colt” of Rex McDonald.  This colt was owned by George Bernard of Colorado Springs, Colorado and won first in the 3 year old class. Tom rode Rex Blees in competitions in the west.

Limestone Belle was a well-known mare that Tom also worked with at his Mexico stable.  It was stated that she was a “graceful gray mare and a brilliant performer at all the saddle gaits.”[1]  In competitions, she performed many elegant and surging movements, which made her one of the most spectacular high school horses ever seen in this country.  For a number of years, Limestone Belle was featured at St. Louis, Kansas City, and Chicago horse shows and theaters.

Tom Bass trained the popular Limestone Belle

Some other horses that Tom trained in Mexico were Henrietta and Prince Meade.  Henrietta, who was owned by Harry Ruby of Macon, Missouri, was a brown mare, and was a daughter of Rex Denmark.  Unfortunately, Tom did not have long to train her. Henrietta died due to natural causes in June of 1901 at the Boulevard Training stable.  Another noted stallion he trained was Prince Reade, owned by Thomas Lafon of St. Louis, Missouri.  It was reported in Horse Show Monthly that, “Lafon was confident that it would be one of the leading sires showing the greatest number of progeny famous for blue ribbons and long prices.”[2]

About 1900 a few of the other mares and geldings in the Bass stables at present were Mexico Prince, Columbus, Rose Artist, Forest Tailor, and Chip McDonald, (Horse Show Monthly). 

It has been noted that Tom also took one of the largest show strings to the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. His entry was led by Thomas Dunn’s prize winning gelding, “Jack O’Diamonds”.  Other horses that Tom showed at the World’s Fair were McDonald 2145 for Wallace Estill of Estill, MO; Twilight 2916 for Houston Wyeth of St. Joseph, MO; Redbud for Thomas Dunn of St. Louis; and Dixie Girl 1894 and Minnehaha 2750 from his own stable.  Tom was also in charge of J. A. Potts entries in St. Louis that included Col. Rippey 2194, a four-year-old stallion and Rex Carter 1938, a three-year-old stallion.[3]

Tom also showed Twilight who was owned by Huston Wyatt. She was a gray daughter of Gray Squirrel that placed second in the mare class. 

By 1909, horses from Tom’s Stable were winning consistently.  Tom and his horses were in Winnipeg, Canada for a major show.  Tom rode Abdallah to first place.  He also won with the newly imported high school horse, Louis A.[4]  Just a short time later at the Iowa State Fair, horses shown by Tom won nearly every class. In some classes he had multiple winners.  For example in the gelding class, Tom’s horses won first on Jack O’Diamonds, second on Abdallah and third on Orange.  Louis A. and Orange won first and second in the high school class.[5]

By 1911, Louis A was winning many of the shows for high school horses.  This gelding had been developed, trained and shown by Tom Bass, who also owned him.  In January 1911, it was announced that Louis A had been sold to George Snyder of Allentown, Pennsylvania.  Tom reserved the rights to show Louis A one more time in Denver.  Then on February 1, 1911, Louis A was taken east where he was to be used on stage in vaudeville shows in Philadelphia and New York.[6]

The reputation of the Bass Stable was maintained for many more years. Horses from Tom’s stable in Mexico were winning shows from coast to coast.   The home of Tom and Angie Bass was full of ribbons, trophies, and silver cups. All were won on horses, gently trained by the great Tom Bass.

Tom Bass'  Mexico, MO stable

Even after the death of Tom Bass in 1934, the Bass Stable continued to stand as a monument to Tom.  The American Saddle Horse Museum hoped to restore the stable as a means of honoring Tom and his accomplishments.  Sadly, the 114 year old stable was destroyed by arson in 1997. The fire was such a noteworthy event that the Associated Press sent news releases that were printed in newspapers across the country.  It was noted that Tom Bass had trained horses for U. S. Presidents and other dignitaries, including St. Louis brewers Adolphus Busch and his son, August A. Busch.  Tom “had competed in a white man’s sport at a time in this country that that was not done.”

• American Saddlebred Horse Museum, Mexico, Missouri and Audrain County Historical Society
• Horse Show Monthly

This page was designed by Mike Friedrich under direction of Dr. Lyndon Irwin