If you desire a saddle horse, a horse that’s sure to please,

Just buy yourself a Walking Horse and ride along at ease.

You’ll never have to learn to post, no acrobats required,

Just sit the saddle as you please to get the thrill desired.

- The Tennessee Walking Horse

By Linda Byles

By Kim J. Harmon

The origins of the horse in North America can be traced back to their introduction by the Spanish conquistadors in the 15th century and from about that time come the earliest records of several different horses breeds . . . the American Paint Horse (The Newtown Bee, January 14) among them.

But the origins of the Tennessee Walking Horse don’t go back nearly as far as all that. In fact, the Tennessee Walking Horse was introduced just over 100 years ago to the middle basin area of Tennessee and was not a natural breed, per se, since it was basically created by farmers who sought not only an effective utility horse but also a smooth ride.

What they started with was a mixture of the Standardbred, Morgan, Thoroughbred, American Saddlebred, Canadian and Narragansett Pace bloodlines and bred an animal that – because water in Tennessee flows over limestone rocks and leads to soil rich in minerals and lush, nutritious bluegrass – was hardy, sound, and generally free of disease.

And after more than a century of careful breeder, what has come about it what Horse Previews Magazine calls, “the world’s greatest show and pleasure horse.”

For all intents and purposes, the history of the Tennessee Walking Horse starts back in the spring of 1886 when the future foundation sire of the breed – the famous Allen – is born in Kentucky. According to Tennessee Walking Horse On-Line, “(Allen) was bred to be a trotting racer, as he was sired by the royally bred Allendorf, his dam was a Morgan mare Maggie Marshall, who’s pedigree contained many champion Morgan racers.”

But Allen turned into a pacer. He most certainly did not want to trot and, at the age of 23, was sold to Albert Dement of Wartrace, Tennessee. Dement wished to produce a breed that would perform the running walk naturally and, as such, had Allen breed with an amazing 111 mares in the last year of his life.

One of those mares was Gertrude, a red roan with four white stockings and a bald face who had a pedigree filled with great foundation sires of the American Saddlebred, Morgan and Standardbred bloodlines. Together, they produced Roan Allen, a popular show horse that went on to sire many great walkers – two of which, Merry Boy and Wilson’s Allen, that nearly all Walkers (like Strolling Jim, Melody Maid, City Girl, Midnight Sun, Old Glory, Black Angel and Merry Go Boy) can be traced back to.

Allen died at the age of 24 and, in 1935, was renamed Allen F-1 by the newly-formed Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ Association of America and accepted as the foundation sire.

Birth Of The TWHBEA

When the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ Association of America was formed in 1935, the purpose was to collect, record and preserve the pedigrees of the Tennessee Walking Horse as well as to maintain a registry, develop rules and regulations that would govern all aspects of the breed, and to sponsor programs promoting the breed.

Lewisburg, Tennessee, which hosted the first meet, was chosen as the official headquarters of the Tennessee Walking Horse.

The organization selected 115 animals as foundation stock. In 1947, the stud book was officially closed which mean that, from 1948 and on, if a horse was to be registered as a Tennessee Walking Horse then both of its parents had to also be registered.

The United States Department of Agriculture officially recognized the Walker as a distinct breed of light horse in 1950 and two decades later, in 1974, the registry’s official name became the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ and Exhibitors’ Association (TWHBEA).

More than 300,000 Walkers have been registered in the 65 years of the TWHBEA’s existence with a membership of close to 13,000. The Tennessee Walking Horse is recognized as one of the top 10 breeds in the United States.

Gaits And Characteristics

The most prominent characteristic of Tennessee Walkers (also know as the Plantation Walking Horse because, back in the 19th century, it could transport farmers over their tobacco and cotton plantations, traveling at high speeds between the rows of plants without causing any damage)) is the so-called running walk, a gait that is inherited and cannot be taught to a horse than does not possess it naturally. It is a square four-beat gait with a gliding motion with a bobbing of the head and swinging of the ears to accompany each step. Some Walkers apparently even snap their teeth in time to the beat.

When performing the running walk, the horses will over-stride, placing the backhoof ahead of the forehoof print. With speeds ranging anywhere from six to 12 miles an hour, a Walker can sustain this gait for long distances without fatigue – to themselves or their riders.

A Walker is also known for two other gaits – the flat walk, which is slow, bold and even; and the canter, a refined gallop with spring and rhythm, but somehow with a jolt to the rider, that is often referred to as the Rocking Chair – but can also perform the rack, stepping pace, fox trot, single foot and other variations of the running walk.

Other familiar characteristics of the Tennessee Walking Horse are its intelligence and very gentle temperament, which makes it a good horse for man, woman or child. In its appearance, a Walker may have a variety of head markings – the star, the star & snip, the strip, the blaze, and the bald face – as well as a variety of leg markings. A Walker is also generally 15- to 17-hands high and weighs anywhere from 900 to 1,200 pounds. Walkers can come in a variety of colors and patterns – black, bay, chestnut, palomino, buckskin roan, and spotted patterns are common.

With its docile temperament, the Tennessee Walking Horse can be a fine family horse but its versatility also makes it suitable for ranch work. They are also excellent reining and cutting horses and have been used in driving, jumping and western style gaming events. In the ring, a Walker can compete in the Model, English, and Western classes.

The Walker is frequently found in programs for handicapped riders and is popular for riders who suffer from back problems.

The Controversy

Back in the 1950s, owners and trainers wanted to improve their horses’ chances to win at shows by enhancing its gait and thus developed a practice called soring, which is done, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, “through the injection or application of chemicals or mechanical irritants. When it walks, a sored horse responds by quickly lifting its front legs to relieve the pain. Sored horses sometimes develop permanent scars.”

The practice of soring became popular and – despite a bill passed in 1957 in Tennessee forbidding this abuse – was very widespread in the 1960s. But continued public outcry over the inhumane act gave rise to the Horse Protection Act, which was passed in 1970 and amended in 1976.

The HPA, according to the USDA, “ensures that responsible horse owners and trainers will not suffer unfair competition from those who sore their horses and that the horses will not be subjected to the cruel practice of soring.”

Most horse-industry organizations and associations strictly prohibit members from soring their animals. Even so, to further enable enforcement of the HPA, the Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) was formed, which led to the Designation Qualified Person (DQP) program. DQP’s are trained and licensed by a WSDA-certified horse industry organization or association to detect sored horses and are responsible for barring from shows any sored horses.

APHIS inspection teams look for abnormal sensitivity or insensitivity in horses they suspect of being sored. The horses may exhibit swelling, tenderness, abrasions, bleeding or the oozing of blood or serum.

If convicted, violators can spend up to two years in prison, face fines of up to $5,000, and can be disqualified for one or more years from the right to show, exhibit, or sell horses through auction sales. Trainers convicted of this practice can be disqualified for life.

But despite the HPA, despite the heightened awareness of soring, the Sound Horse Organization – dedicated to the development and protection of the Tennessee Walking Horse – insists the practice of soring continues and that, “in the last 28 years, since the HPA was enacted, sored horse owners and trainers have actually escalated and refined their torturous techniques.”

It is because of these new techniques, the SHO states, that the USDA added another amendment to the HPA in 1998 called the Strategic Plan, which would define the scar rule for the horse inspection organizations, and increase fines and suspensions for the guilty parties.

Bonnie A. Yeager of the Sound Horse Organization does say, however, “only 20 percent of owners of Tennessee Walkers show their horses and of those, only half have the lack of morals, ethics and conscience to subject their patient, long-suffering horses to this abuse.”

Sources

Books:

The Horse by J. Warren Evans, Anthony Burton, Harold F. Hintz and L. Dale Van Vleck.

Horses of America by Dorothy Hanshaw Patent

Encarta Encyclopedia

Ecyclopedia Brittanica

The Ultimate Horse Book by Elwyn Hartley Edwards

The Encyclopedia of the Horse by Elwyn Hartley Edwards

Web sites:

http://www.walkinghorse.org

http://www.aphis.usda.gov

http://www.walking-horse.com

http://www.horse-previews.com

http://www.cob.montevallo.edu

http://planetpets.simplenet.com

http://www.gaitedhorses.net

http://www.pnn.com

http://www.baldeagleinfo.com

http://www.reiters.net

http://www.nevada-b-ranch.com