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Source
of photo: Monroe County Appeal Centennial Edition dated August 13,
1931; submitted by MaryBeth Kirtlink
John
Hook was born near Mexico in 1879 or a little earlier, and died in
the ’60s. He began showing and training horses before he was
twenty and became internationally known for his successes and for
the prominence — in their day — of some of his clients. For many
years, he headed the Saddle Horse operation at Longview Farms at
Lee’s Summit, Mo., an establishment called “an American
Versailles” and “the greatest Saddlebred nursery in the
world.” The establishment was internationally known for its size
and beauty and for the quality of horses it produced. Hook went from
there to Pomona, Calif., to manage an equally renowned barn owned by
the founder of the Carnation Milk Company. Later Hook returned to
Mexico, Mo., and set up his own very successful training and sales
barn. In his last two decades he was a much revered judge at the
nation’s biggest shows.
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