Ranchorama Tennessee Walking Horses
The Tennessee Walking Horse is a breed of gaited horse known for its unique four-beat running-walk and flashy movement. It is a popular riding horse due to its calm disposition, smooth gaits and sure-footedness. The Tennessee Walking Horse is often seen in the show ring, but is also popular as a pleasure and trail riding horse using both English and Western equipment. The Tennessee Walking Horse is also seen in movies, television shows and other performances.
The breed was developed beginning in the late 18th century when Narragansett Pacers and Canadian Pacers from the eastern United States were crossed with gaited Spanish Mustangs from Texas. Other breeds were later added, and in 1886 a foal named Black Allan was born. He is now considered the foundation sire of the breed. In 1935 the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders' Association was formed, and it closed the studbook in 1947. In 1939, the first Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration was held.
About 150 years ago in American history, when the hill people of Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River to settle the Ozark Mountain regions of Missouri and Arkansas, they took with them their best horses. The Tennessee Walking horse is a culmination of these horses.
To the North in the Canadian Provinces, French mares were crossed with English and Dutch stock, to produce what became known as the Canadian Pacer, a breed which still exists, but in very small numbers in that country.
Then, the American Colonists began crossing their gaited stock with the English Thoroughbreds. One famous stallion was Hedgeford, imported in 1832, and his most remembered son was Denmark.
Denmark was bred to a mare of Narragansett background known as the Stevenson mare, from Cockspur bloodlines, and their foal was Gaines Denmark. During his career, Gaines Denmark produced four legendary sons, and in 1908, the American Saddle Horse Breeder's Association named him THE single foundation sire of the Saddle Horse breed. Previous lists had included such horses as Harrison Chief, Tom Hal and Copperbottom.
Understandably, as harness racing became popular with Colonial gentlemen, these horses made their way towards the colonies of Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. Inevitably, as frontiers moved south and west, the Narragansett and Canadian Pacers came together. The Canadians went to New England, where they became a part of the foundation of what is now the Morgan breed.
The Tennessee Walking Horse was derived in Tennessee, primarily from the American Trotting Horse with the heavy influence of the Morgan Horse and the Canadian Pacer. The American Trotting Horse is now known as the Standardbred.
The war Between the States occasioned the crossbreeding of the Confederate Pacer and Union Trotters: thus the Southern Plantation Walking Horse or Tennessee Pacer came into being. Next came the blood of the Thoroughbred, Standardbred, Morgan and the American Saddlebred. All were fused into one animal in the middle of Tennessee bluegrass region. The result, over countless years, was the "world's greatest show, pleasure, and trail horse,"- the first breed of the horse to bear a state name - the Tennessee Walking Horse.
