" 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.