By Sarah Coffee Burks

It’s been more than 50 years since the Daugette sisters showed at the Celebration, but their story includes some of the greatest records made in the 86 years of the show’s history. And they are still making records.
Burt Daugette Lowe and Anne Daugette Renfrow set a standard of firsts. In the years spanning from 1966 to 1971, they won a total of six world championships and seven world grand championship titles.

In doing so, they became the first sisters to ever win world grand championships in the same year. And, they did that not once, but twice. Those titles were awarded by unanimous first place votes from all three of the then three man panels of judges.

They were also the first sisters in industry history to retire Celebration challenge trophies, Burt in 1969 and Anne in 1970.

To date, no other siblings have achieved these feats.

Despite the five decades that have passed since the Daugettes heyday, they still attend the show every year with excitement building months beforehand. The family came to their first Celebration in 1962. There will likely be three generations in their box this year.

And they still believe in and support the breed that was so good to them - the Tennessee Walking Horse. Burt said, “Our family loved all our time showing. The memories created during these years are treasured to this day.”

Anne and Burt were recently accorded even more honors. 

They are the daughters of the late Colonel and the late Mrs. CW Daugette Jr. of Gadsden, Alabama, where they still reside. Shetland ponies and imaginary backyard horse shows inspired dreams of great, great things to come for the two sisters and their younger brother Clarence.

The three siblings consider themselves very blessed to have lived their entire lives in Gadsden, Alabama, and to share passions and work, even though the three of them are very different people.

While Burt and Anne had championship dreams from the very beginning, their mother Florence eventually had a dream of her own where her daughters and their horses were concerned. Burt says her Mother loved the family’s years of showing horses with all her heart.

Mrs. Daugette’s dream was that Burt and Anne eventually be inducted to the Etowah County Sportsmen’s Hall of Fame. The HOF traces to 1989 when its first banquet was held.

Her dream recently came true. On June 8, 2024, at the Coosa Landing Event Center in Gadsden, Burt and Anne were the first ever equestrians (and among very few women) ever inducted to the Hall of Fame. Anne smiled, “We are so happy Mother’s goal was realized.”

Also honored were three brothers who attained high school and college basketball acclaim, and two other men who achieved the same heights in football. In addition to the ceremony for the seven honorees (all graduates of the Etowah County school system), five college scholarships for recently graduated high school seniors were announced. Over 300 friends and family watched the awards ceremony.

Those Shetland ponies had been replaced with Tennessee Walking Horses after the Daugettes were introduced to the breed by a cousin who had a friend who showed horses. It began with Sir Henry’s Masterpiece for Burt and Go Boys Dream followed by Go Boy’s Joy for Anne and Eldorado’s Boy and later Go Boy’s Joy for Clarence.

After a few formative years with trainer Peck Stone in Alabama showrings and ribbons for all three of them at The Celebration, Burt and Anne convinced their parents they needed world championship caliber horses.
Colonel Daugette sought out the great horseman Vic Thompson and asked him to guide his daughters in their showring endeavors. Thompson, who was legendary in matching his amateur riders with just the right horse, proceeded to do exactly that.

Burt said that the horse her dad wanted for her all along was Moonglow Jr. The Colonel had tried unsuccessfully to buy him from James K. Taylor before talking to Thompson.

After Burt rode several other horses (including one which did such a good job of running away that she thought she might never see the state of Alabama again) her father mentioned to Thompson that the horse they really wanted for Burt was Moonglow Jr. Thompson agreed immediately and was able to convince Taylor to sell them the horse.

Burt said, “Junior was always ready to go. He had strength and endurance, and the crowd always responded to him. With that white mane and tail, he was a beautiful, powerful horse who knew what his job was. He was all show horse in every way and loved performing all three gaits.”

After pairing up for the 1966 season, Burt was to win the family’s first Celebration roses. She and the gorgeous chestnut Moonglow Jr. clicked as a team and became the Amateur Stallion World Champion and Amateur World Grand Champion in 1966.  

Burt recalls, “There were 100 entries listed in the preliminary class with 80 coming down the chute to vie for the blue.” After three intense workouts, she heard her name follow the vaulted phrase “And the winner is…”
The year was 1966 when Betty Sain won the World Grand Championship Stake on Shaker’s Shocker. Sain declined the offers of putting her horse on the front covers of the industry’s, then, premiere publications, The National Horsemen and The Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse. The National Horsemen then offered the magazine’s front cover to the Daugettes for Junior and that is one of Burt’s most treasured memories.

After time off in 1967 due to an injury, Junior and Burt returned to the 1968 Celebration competition. She recalls that in the world grand championship workout, another rider’s horse grabbed the bit, cut across center ring and slammed into Junior‘s hindquarters during the reverse running walk.

Spectators who witnessed this were amazed Burt didn’t come off her horse and noted trainer Joe Webb called Burt the best amateur rider ever for that reason. 

Burt and Junior performed the reverse canter and easily walked off with their second set of roses.
Going on to become the first team to win the Amateur World Grand Championship trifecta, Burt and her charmed stallion again claimed center stage in the amateur stallion preliminary and Amateur World Grand Championship in 1969 to win their third floral horseshoe at the Celebration.

The following year, Junior was retired in a center ring ceremony at The Celebration. He was placed at stud at Thompson’s Stallion Stables and later lived out his years in Arab, Alabama.

Thompson chose legendary mare and 2023 TWHBEA Hall of Fame inductee Rock-A-Bye Lady for Anne following the stunning black mare’s victory under Charlie Martin in the four year-old class at the 1967 celebration.

Col. Daugette had asked Thompson to find Anne a great, great mare so that the girls would not be competing in the same classes. Anne says previous owners, the Rev Cecil Hart family from Missouri, only agreed to sell her because they wanted a stallion instead. Rev. Hart had raised, started and shown Rock-A-Bye to her first blue ribbon himself. Martin saw her at a show in the fall of her three-year-old year and her legend truly began.

Anne and Rock-A-Bye were undefeated in the four seasons of 1968-69-70-71, with triumphs in ladies amateur mare preliminary classes as well as Ladies Amateur World Grand Championship wins in each of those years.

In her lifetime, going back to Martin‘s world title in 1967, the black beauty appeared in Celebration competition a total of nine times and won via unanimous decision on every occasion.

Anne and her mare had shown one time in 1967 and did not win at the Montgomery Southern Championships. As a team, they were undefeated at all shows and always by unanimous decision for the entire remainder of their partnership.

The reins of Rock-A-Bye Lady were handed over to Clarence Daugette III at the start of the 1972 season. There were high hopes and great likelihood that the new duo would be Amateur World Grand Champions, but sadly Rock-A-Bye Lady died midseason. Clarence had already directed the great geldings Second Time Around and Tuff Stuff to a pair of reserve world championships.

Trophies and blue ribbons from the TWHNC still hold place of pride in Burt’s and Anne’s respective homes. These are added to championship tributes achieved at virtually all the nation’s major showcases from the era they were competing.

Included is the Amateur Championship Stake challenge trophy from the Dixie Jubilee in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Burt had won two legs on this trophy with Moonglow Jr., but since the decision had been made to retire him after his 1969 Celebration wins, was not going to be able to strive for her third and retiring leg on the trophy. 
Anne generously loaned her sister Rock-A-Bye Lady and the trophy has resided in Gadsden, Alabama, ever since.

Anne described Rock-A-Bye as “a huge joy to ride.” She said, “To me, she set the standard of the breed. Once you earned her respect, she always performed all three gaits perfectly.” To this day, Rock-A-Bye Lady is considered the industry’s all-time greatest mare by many.

Horses of this caliber are called once in a lifetime. And if you ever had the joy and privilege of seeing these two teams show, you know they were absolutely unforgettable.

The sisters still sing praises for their mentor Vic Thompson. “His method of teaching was one of constant encouragement,” Anne said.

Burt added, “He’d always tell us in the warmup ‘no rider can beat you and no horse can beat this horse.’”
Looks like he was right.

Friendships with barnmates and competitors were formed that the sisters treasure still. The list of people dearest to their hearts includes Kathy Thompson, Judy Tillett Young, Cissy Best, Shirley Schlicher, Amie Lee and Woody Marks, Doodles Thompson, Deedy Decker, Kim Lovett, Laura Brandon, Lynn Utter Northrop, Mike Crawford, Lynn and Greg Gochnear, Molly Kay Walker, Patti Reems Henegar, Nancy Lenox, Maxine Johnson, Dean and David Buttram, Pat Puckett and Rita Rollins - a veritable who’s who roll call of great riders.

The most important introduction that came through the horse business for Anne was meeting fellow horseman Ray Renfrow. The two began dating in 1969 and have been married 53 years.

The Renfrow family name was also one well-known throughout the industry. The star of their string was the stellar world champion aged mare Miss Sundown R. She was under the guidance of CA Bobo in Thomasville, North Carolina, continuing with him to GLL Farms in Collierville, Tennessee, and ending up at what would become the famed CA Bobo and Sons Stables in Shelbyville.

Ray is the family historian and his knowledge is encyclopedic. He and Anne have two daughters-Clare Renfrow and Alie Renfrow Causey. Alie and her husband Michael have a son named Ren.

Burt had a long and happy marriage with her husband, the late Lynn Lowe. Their daughter, Mary Kinney Lowe Corley, and her husband Jarrett Corley, are both renowned physicians in Birmingham, Alabama, and have two daughters, Mary Clare and Frances.

Both Lynn and Ray joined the Daugette family business Life Insurance Company of Alabama. The company was founded by Col. Daugette in 1952. Upon his death, son Clarence Daugette III joined his mother to take over the reins at the company.

With Clarence at the lead as president, LICOA now serves the states of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, as well as its home state of Alabama.

Clarence said, “We take pride that LICOA has enjoyed such growth and success, and that the company helps countless clients and friends.”

Being of service to others has been a multigenerational mantra for the Daugette family. The efforts and endowments of five generations of the family helped a small local college become the noted Jacksonville State University.

From their horses to business endeavors, civic and church involvements - in virtually everything the family has impacted, they have a rich history of inspiring others.

Burt and Junior retired the Arnalt Challenge Trophy in 1969. She was the first rider to ever retire the trophy by virtue of three world grand championship wins in the 30 years it had been offered. The Daugettes then donated the Col. C.W. Daugette-Moonglow Jr. Challenge trophy. And again, it was another 30 years before this trophy was retired for the first time.

On the final Saturday night of this year’s Celebration, when you hear announcer Mark Farrar list the trophies that will be awarded to this year‘s winner of the Amateur Canter World Grand Championship, that will be the ninth challenge for which the Daugette/Junior trophy has been offered.

Anne and Rock-A-Bye Lady retired both the Ladies Amateur Mare class and Ladies Amateur World Grand Championship challenge trophies in 1970, and then came back to win those titles again in 1971.

After the mare’s passing, the family donated the Florence Daugette – Rock-A-Bye Lady Challenge Trophy in the Ladies Amateur World Grand Championship beginning in 1972.

This challenge trophy is now offered by the Daugette family for the fifth time. It was originally offered in the Ladies Amateur World Grand Championship and was later transferred to the Amateur Mares & Geldings World Grand Championship.  

It’s been said quite often that once you fall in love with a horse, that love can last a lifetime.

That’s definitely what happened with the Daugettes.

In these two challenge trophies honoring their parents and these two remarkable horses, the Daugette family’s love of and appreciation for the Tennessee Walking Horse are forever immortalized.