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Monroe County People

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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.