Charles Smith lives on Matties Way, and his life has revolved around horses since he was eight years old.  His father died when Charlie was four, and a lot of time was spent with a playmate who owned a horse across the street at Belmont College stables.  He and his friend spent many hours there.  Later the horse is moved a short distance away to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds which offers a mile track.  Charlie’s love of horses leads him to follow the horse and be at the track as much as possible.  We find all sorts of horses at the fairgrounds including Thoroughbreds, Standardbred, Tennessee Walking Horses and American Saddlebred.  Charlie was just a kid doing anything to stay around horses.  His job includes cleaning out the stables, washing and cleaning up the horses and exercising them.  Back in the early 40’s, he is working for 25 cents a week and the guy he is working for taught him how to shoot craps and usually won back the money Charlie earned.  Learning lessons of life along the way is not always easy, but learn Charlie did.  
 Later as a teenager, Charlie found summertime jobs all over the country from Pennsylvania and Tennessee to Georgia. His job title starts as a groom and eventually graduates up to an assistant trainer.  At this time Charlie was pulling in the big bucks, making $25.00 a week.  He soon got the opportunity to train a difficult, balking horse, and when he showed him at a show in Sedgeville, he came home with a blue ribbon which signified the beginning of success.
When Charlie is 16, he finds summer work at a stable in Harvest Lake in Pennsylvania for Senator Woods.  This job is where Charlie gets his start on watching the training and development of horses that enter the higher stratosphere of world champions.  Charlie stayed on site and had a bed in a dormitory built over the stables.  Charlie remembers, “This was a beautiful barn, and we had top horses available to us.  The trainer and assistant trainer were the best in the business.”  A priceless experience.
“When I turn 17 I come home to Nashville,” Charlie says, “and I get a job with a man who had four untrained horses in a small stable just outside of Louisville, Kentucky.  I was asked to train his horses.  Coming from the best stable in the country to a stable connected to a dairy barn and totaling four untrained horses was somewhat of an unsettling downgrade.  However, this job gave me my first opportunity to become a trainer, groom, and caretaker all wrapped into one package.  I took it.”  This kind of opportunity is like jumping into a murky pond with hopes the water will clear before you sink.  
The first horse show where Charlie took his newly trained horses was in Harrodsburg, Kentucky where he won the four-year-old harness class.  Now at 18 years of age, it happens that Charlie is sitting outside the barn at the show when a lovely lady who owned the horse in the next stable came by dragging a Coca-Cola cooler.  Charlie offered to help the young lady, Peggy Johnson, and her mother.  Boy, oh boy, did that good deed turn into something beyond his wildest expectations.  Meeting again at another show, he was asked by Peggy to become the trainer for her two American Saddlebred horses.  Charlie consented, and Peggy brought her horses to Charlie for training, and1 they spent many hours together.  One afternoon, having a difference of opinion Peggy said, “I’m taking my horses out of here and taking them back home.”   Without giving it much thought, the words that surprised Charlie when they popped out of his mouth were, “I was going to ask you to marry me.”  Guess what?, Peggy surprised him even more by saying, “Okay.”  So, they got married and spent 62 years together until Peggy died in 2015.
At age 20 and married, the next move is to Tri Oaks Stables in Houston, Texas.  Charlie and Peggy buy a house, and Charlie becomes the manager and trainer of the stables which ultimately become home to 80 horses.  Exploding like brilliant fireworks, we find world champions being produced right and left, with the list ever exploding.  By this time, many interested eyes were looking in the direction of Charlie and noting the dazzling success of his horses.  The Smiths stayed here for six years until Exxon bought the land and built office buildings.  
 For their next move, they gathered up kids, a 200-pound Great Dane, their possessions, and returned to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1972.  After two years of work at Rock Creek Stables Charlie takes a big leap of faith as he decides it is time to build his own stables.  By now Charlie has built up quite a reputation for himself by riding, buying, selling and training both horse and rider to many championships across the country.  Built to produce Charlie’s vision of success, Charles Smith Farm is created in Simpsonville, Kentucky.  This farm is in the Saddlehorse mecca of the world and Charlie is right where he wants to be.  The vision is large, and the horse farm contains two barns holding 60 stalls.  During this time he also leases another horse farm where he has a breeding operation of stallions, mares, and colts.  This operation totaled about 250 horses, and life is about as good as it gets.  The world is now revolving around developing top show horses and training riders to win the big ones.  During this time Charlie becomes President of United Professional Horseman Association, and travels occur both far and wide.   Horses ship to England for shows and trips are made to California where he is now judging as well as showing his horses.  Customers are now expressing their interest from as far away as Germany, Ireland, and South Africa.  World champions produced from Charles Smith Farm is increasing with avalanche speed.  More winners than I can begin to list but horses like Fire Engine Red, Sting Ray, Slick Chick and Fury of the Night.  One horse forever immortalized in life-size bronze is Phoenix, The World Champion, five-gaited horse.    Charlie meets with Hollywood celebrities including Barbara Mandrell, Patrick Duffy whom he taught to ride, Pamela Sue Martin star of the miniseries Dynasty, Loren Green from Bonanza, and William Shatner of Star Wars.  Charlie fondly relates, “The first horse that Ronald Regan climbed on after his recovery from being shot was an American Saddlebred which came from my stables.  The operation of Charles Smith Farm lasted for 30 years and oh, the success in the world of horsemanship that he achieved!
I find myself becoming so mesmerized by this exciting world of magnificent American Saddlebred horses, I decided to do some research, and this is what I find.  Developed in the 1700s by American colonist, the American Saddlebred first came about by crossing the Narragansett Pacer with the Thoroughbred.  From the Pacer, it inherited its distinctive, effortless gait, and from the Trotters, its agility and speed.  After many had been gallant and courageous in battle during the Revolutionary War, the crossbred was brought to Kentucky and took on the name Kentucky Saddler.  By the early 1800s, the Kentucky Saddler is recognized for its comfortable gait and exceptional balance.  Morgan and Thoroughbred blood were added thus producing the modern American Saddlebred horse which is an all-around capable horse that matches beauty with performance.  Its eyes are large, luminous and set far apart.  Its ears, in contrast, are set close together and erect.  The neck is long and sloping, smoothly blending to the head.  They present a high stepping action along with an expressive face with an attitude that confirms their magnificent beauty.  Many say it’s the most beautiful horse in the world.  
Charlie retired from the horse world at age 65, and he and Peggy travel all over the United States.  After retiring, he told his wife, Peggy, “I have had my time, so this is your time, and we’ll do whatever you want.”  I have to tell you about the tale I know concerning their little cabin in Westcliffe, Colorado.  Situated on the top of a 10,900-foot high mountain with vistas down across the valley ending with the majestic Rocky Mountains in the far distance.  This little cabin started out to be close to 2,500 square feet and ended up being a magnificent home of 7,000 square feet built with logs shipped in from Canada.  The main fireplace soars 40 feet high made of local rock, and the views seen out of ten-foot windows, soar with eagles.  The house was named Vist a Majestuosa Ranch meaning majestic view in Spanish.
In 1982 Charlie and Peggy bought a condo on the Gulf at Sea Grove Beach.  In 2002 the house on Matties Way was bought and lived in occasionally.  Peggy passed away in 2015 and Charlie and his son, Jack Daniel, made Destin and Kelly Plantation their permanent home.  Many weekends find Charlie, Jack, and Fiema boating on the sparkling waters of our Gulf.  Charlie has settled in with his German Shephard, Fiema who was flown in from Germany.  Charlie says, “More people know Fiema than know me!” 
I ask Charlie to give me a brief summary of what he learned working with horses.  “Number one, a horse will teach you how to train them if you will let them.  I always look deep into their eyes to see what they are telling me.  Number two, perfection is never reached, you keep striving for it.”