" WHAT ON EARTH IS A TENNESSEE WALKING HORSE ?" VOICE OF THE
TENNESSEE WALKING HORSE ( A monthly magazine devoted exclusively to this breed )
Editor , Ben A . Green
A ut / tor —“ The Biography ”
Shelbyville . Tenn .
March 19 , 1962 The Editor — Boston Globe , Boston , Massachusetts
Dear Sir :
A friend tells me your newspaper on Dec . 9 , 1961 , carried a letter to the Editor from one S . F . Perkins of Cambridge , Massachusetts , who wrote : “ I heard that a Boston man sold a Tennessee Walking Horse by advertising in the Globe . What on earth , if I may ask , is a Tennessee Walking Horse ?"
1 do not know the answer given this reader . But as Editor-Publisher of the Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse , monthly magazine , and author of the book — Biography of the Tennessee Walking Horse — published in December , 1960 , and now in its second edition , I would , like to satisfy the mind of Mr . Perkins and doubtless many thousands of oilier Globe readers .
The best description of the Tennessee Walking Horse I ever read was written 19 years ago by the late Gilbert M . Orr of Columbia , Tenn ., a man who lived in a wheel chair because of infantile paralysis — but an immensely brave and dedicated soul . He described this horse with 2,000 words . I will offer you a 900-word abstract of his statement :
“ If you chance to be one in whose heart there is an innate or an acquired love for a horse of good conformation and admirable performance , of gentle manners , high intelligence and loyalty and whose nature is for faithful sendee ; if your sporting blood courses a bit faster at the exhibition of sufficient style for smart looks , and if you admire sheer gameness combined with even temper and long endurance — then you should meet and know the Tennessee Walking Horse which has been at home amid the rolling hills and bluegrass pastures of Middle Tennessee for more than a hundred years . . .
‘‘ This superb animal , today ‘ the world ' s greatest pleasure horse ,’ is no mere accident . It is the product of a century of judicious breeding which has resulted in a marked degree of intelligence , a docile disposition , three free and easy gaits , and a large general utilitarian purpose . . .
“ The Tennessee Walking Horse has truly served its breeders and its owners ‘ from the cradle to the grave .’
“ Yet , it is for its ability to afford pleasure under saddle that this great horse has become favorably knoivn throughout the world : and in this somewhat effete and blase motor age in which we live today , men and women are turning in increasing numbers to the Tennessee Walking Horse as the seasons roll by to find pleasure and healthful exercise that no luxurious car can give .
“ For the sheer delight of riding and for beneficial diversion in the saddle , this horse give the maximum of human enjoyment and stands supreme in the equine world for its contribution . There is no labor in handling this gentle-mannered animal which responds to light reining — no exertion is called for to cope with a hard and rough gait , for the gaits of the Tennessee Walking Horse are all ‘ free and easy ’ and they give comfort and relaxation to the rider without any appreciable degree of fatigue after hours of continuous riding . . . These rocking chair gaits have been bred into these horses throughout the century and more of their existence .
“ The Tennessee Walking Horse has three gaits — the flat-foot walk , the running walk and the canter . . . The flat-foot walk is a square on four corners ; it is bold and is a step of perfect symmetry , yet it is executed with an ease and grace which will carry one for four to five miles an hour with rest to the horse and comfort to the rider .
“ The running walk , the gait of su-
Tech . Advisor , John B . Curley
preme pleasure to the man or woman of skill as a rider , is the leading and most popular movement of the Tennessee Walking Horse . It is a fourcornered gait and is started like the flat-foot walk ; but as speed is increased , the horse over-steps the front foot with the back foot by from six to eighteen inches . The more ‘ stride ’ the horse has , the better ‘ Walker ’ it is considered to be ; for this gives the rider a feeling that he or she is gliding through the air as if propelled by some powerful but smooth-running machine . Yet , this gait is so easy and so moderate that after many hours of continuous riding one feels as fresh as die morning breeze .
“ In this running walk , the jar or jolt of the horse ' s back is eliminated by the light spring of its limbs , the motion of its feet and the nod of its dead . . . This gait is so smooth the rider might easily carry a glass of water in his or her hand without spilling even a drop . All Walking Horses relax certain muscles when doing the running walk as they nod their heads in rhythmic timing , swing their ears in perfect motion , and even snap their teeth in corresponding measure .
“ In the canter the horse gives one an abundance of ease with lots of spring and rhythm , and with just the proper rise and fall to afford a thrill from sitting the saddle . . . and there is ever a grace and beauty when the horse does this ’ rocking chair ’ motion called the canter . . .”
Thus wrote Gilbert Orr , in part , 19 years ago . These innate characteristics of the Tennessee Walking Horse abide today as then . I hope this answers the question of the Gentleman from Cambridge , Mass .
Yours sincerely ,
Ben A . Green , Editor , Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse Shelbyville , Tenn .