It Started with a Trailer: The Story of Bert & Edna Lytle, continued...
Ammerman and Lytle was formed in 1967 and supplied the jumps for WIHS for many years.
He took his horse to Quantico in the horse van he had built out of a Sears Roebuck delivery truck, which quickly drew notice. Some officers liked to fox hunt with Bull Run Hunt, so every Saturday, Bert would put their horses in his van and head out hunting. Because they were in the military, they did not have to pay to join the hunt, and the officers gave Bert gas money for the trip.
Hauling More than Just Horses After Bert was discharged from the
Marines, he went back to hauling horses and saw the need for a bigger trailer. At the time, no one was building what we would consider commercial size trailers. With the help of friend and farrier Jim Burgholzer, Bert built a six-horse trailer from a furniture van. Together they start- ed a business building and repairing trail- ers for others. Even today, at 90 years old, Bert still
start building their own jumps. Te two quickly went into business to- gether, founding “Ammerman and Lytle” in 1967 and became known for their elaborate designs. Tis was at the time when Grand Prix show jumping was just becoming popu- lar and Bert and John’s jumps were highly sought after. Colonel Studler, who was a member of the WBTA, noticed their jumps and asked to borrow the jumps for WBTA shows. In the 1960s, Colonel Studler was also the Executive Vice President of the Washington International Horse Show. He hired Bert and John to refurbish and spruce up WIHS’s jumps. Tey ended up building
the entire course and would rent the jumps to WIHS each year. Over the years, Bert and John hauled their jumps all over and were featured at impor-
peted Gypsy Jinks. Te Lytles stood a few stal- lions, broke Toroughbred racehorses and bred show hunters, but it was the ponies that became Edna’s passion and niche in the horse world. Edna graduated from UMD with a degree in
journalism. She wrote for Te Washington Post, sitting at horse shows with her typewriter and reporting on who won what. But she had high- er ambitions than just horse shows and wanted to “chase fires” to report on the hard news sto- ries of the time. Tis was considered very un- lady like and the Washington Post kept her on horse shows until she quit. Having a knack for numbers, she moved on,
Edna and Bert showing homebreds at McDonogh in 1996.
repairs and builds trailers… on his own time. “I will fix a trailer at my leisure but I’m not guaranteeing anyone a completion date,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. He also jokes about what he calls the “necessity rate” for haul- ing horses. Basically, if you hired him to haul your horses and you simply let him do every- thing, there was one rate. If you decided you needed to help him, he added to his charge. Now, if you also decided to provide instruction on how to handle your horse to get it on the trailer, well Bert added again to the rate out of necessity. While Bert’s transportation business gal-
16 | THE EQUIERY | MAY 2020
loped along, he began developing a whole new business building horse show jumps. Like his horse transportation business, the jump busi- ness came out of identifying a need and having the skills to meet that need. It was the mid 1960s and Bert and Edna were members of the Bit & Spur Riding Club. Te club hosted a show every year and had to rent jumps from other horse shows. Bert suggested to fellow member John Ammerman that they
tant shows, including the 1976 Pan American Games in Puerto Rico, 1984 Olympics in Los Angles and the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. Bert sold his portion of the business in the early 1980s to Chuck Kinney of Ohio, but stayed on for another five years to help ease the transition to new ownership. However, the WIHS jumps, as well as the arena wall, are still stored to this day at the Lytle’s Otasaga Farm in Dickerson and hauled to DC each October.
The Business of Ponies
While Bert was hauling and building jumps and trailers, Edna was making a name for herself as a rider and trainer. Edna rode at the major shows, such as WIHS where she com-
and worked at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab for some time and was part of the staff that launched the Polaris Missile in 1960. With daughters Sandy and Cindy growing up in the equestrian community, Edna turned her attention solely on horses and became a full time trainer. She was often searching for the right ponies for the girls to compete. As the girls would grow out of their ponies for one reason or another, they just could not let go and sell them! To solve this “problem,” Edna basically invented the business of leasing ponies. “Tere were a lot of professionals out there that were not happy with my mom,” Cindy explained, “she was cutting into their sales profits by leasing ponies instead of selling them.” Sometimes it was not the fanciest pony that was the most valuable either. Often, the steady eddy type would be the pony with the longest career, being leased by generations of children. Many current trainers
will agree that today, a good pony can be worth more in years of leasing to the right homes than a one time sale!
continued...
Edna rode Gypsy Jinks in the very first Washington Interna- tional Horse Show.
800-244-9580 |
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Barbara K. Magrogran
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