1962-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1962 April Voice | Page 5

Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse
3
W. Henry Davis—Wartrace Breeder—Leaves History Of
Service
Saturday, March 24, 1961 has be­
come a historically sad day in Wart­
race, Tenn., known far and wide as
"The Cradle of the Tennessee Walk­
ing Horse.”
At 2:30 p.m. that date in the Wart­
race Baptist Church funeral services
were held for W. Henry Davis, 76, the
last surviving “Cradleman” whose
lifetime was largely spent in service
to this breed in countless ways. He
was buried in nearby Hollywood
Cemetery.
Owned Strolling Jim
Henry' Davis died at 5 p.m., March
23 at his home—up the hill just a
block from the famous stables where
he and the late trainer, Floyd Car-
others, trained Strolling Jim to be­
come the first Celebration—crowned
Tennessee Walking Horse Champion
of the world. That crowning took
place in August, 1939, just six months
after Davis had paid §350 for Stroll­
ing Jim.
Davis said he found Strolling Jim
on Charlie Ramsey’s farm the pre­
vious winter but the horse looked like
skin and bones. He told Ramsey the
horse was not built for the plow­
dragging work he had been used for
on the farm and advised Ramsey to
“put him up and feed him.”
The next spring Davis visited in
Shelbyville one day and heard that
two strangers were in town looking
for a saddlehorse. Davis suspected
they were looking for Strolling Jim,
so he immediately drove back to
Wartrace to get Carothers—then on
to Ramsey’s place where he closed the
deal just before the strangers arrived.
He turned down the §25 profit they
offered him and the strangers turned
down the Davis offer on a §100 profit
basis. By Celebration time Davis had
sold Strolling Jim to Col. C. H. Bacon
of Loudon, Tenn. Carothers rode
the horse to the championship.
Strolling Jim was a gelding and
took the crown at three years old. He
became famous from coast to coast,
adding much prestige to the breed.
He is buried behind Floyd’s Walking
Horse Hotel at Wartrace.
With Dement And Brantley
Davis was closely associated with
the late Albert M. Dement—known as
the “Master Breeder” for his pains­
taking mating of superior animals,
Henry Davis
such as Allan F-l with Nell Dement
F-3 to produce Merry Legs F-4. He
was also associated with the late
James R. Brantley, who brought
Allan F-l to the area and mated him
with Gertrude F-84 to produce the
matchless stallion, Roan Allen F-38.
Davis was some 25 years younger
than these other breeders prominent
at the lime, but he showed much
leadership. He saw a magazine adver­
tisement and led a party of Wartrace
breeders to Kentucky in 1914. They
bought an entire freight carload of
horses and brought them to Wartrace.
Among these animals w'as Giovanni,
a superior stallion of the American
Saddlehorse Registry. He was sired by
Dandy Jim out of Francesca. He was
a grandson of McDonald's Chief.
From the standpoint of contri­
bution to the breed, some authorities
believe Davis’ greatest single act was
in introducing the prepotent Gio­
vanni bloodline into the Tennessee
Walking Horse strain—giving the
breed superior speed by heritage and
also by competitive example.
Other breeders, including Steve
Hill and tire late Winston Wiser,
found Giovanni to be a superior stal­
lion. He died in 1940.
Davis rode such famous mounts as
Merry Legs F-4 and often called her
the greatest mare he ever saw. Fie
also rode Roan Allen F-38 when this
great stallion would sweep events in
both the Tennessee Walking Horse
classes and gaited classes. This horse
could execute seven distinct gaits with
Davis riding.
(Wartrace was given the name—
Tire Cradle of the Tennessee Walking
Horse—by Mrs. Elizabeth Connell—
wife of Dr. Maurice L. Connell, who
attended Davis at the time of his
death. Mrs. Connell applied the name
in the 1930’s when breeding stock
from Wartrace replenished that else­
where after the automotive invasion of
farms had threatened to eliminate the
Tennessee Walking Horse—previously
used largely as a utility work animal.)
Among the famous stallions stand­
ing at Davis' stables was Mitch F-5,
sired by Roan Allen F-38 out of Mat-
tie H.
Father Of Celebration
Davis is even better known in
Shelbyville as “The Father of the
Tennessee Walking Horse National
Celebration.” Three years ago he was
elected “honorary chairman” of the
Celebration in tribute to his service.
It was he who suggested a “Tennes­
see Walking Horse Festival" in con­
versation with William L. Parker,
then an assistant cashier at the Peo­
ples National Bank. Parker invited
Davis to bring some friends and tell
his ideas to the Shelbyville Lions
Club at their meeting May 11, 1939.
Davis did so with a 10-minute address.
Lion President Freeman Fly named
a committee that included Parker and
Phil J. Scudder. The Rotary club
named the late Clyde Tune and the
late Franklin Boyd. These four com­
mitteemen became the original Cele­
bration Executive Committee and
managed the show for many years—
until the setup was reorganized to
provide chartered association with a
seven-man directorate.
Davis said he gained “the inspi­
ration” for a "Plorse Festival” after
seeing how folks got so excited at
Winchester, Tenn. over a Crimson
Clover Festival. “I figured that if peo­
ple could get that excited over a small
clover seed they could really get
worked up over a Walking Horse
show on a big scale,” he said. Later
during formative stages Davis fought
to make the Celebration a show with
national scope—furnishing a “Master
Show” for the world. Thus the Cele­
bration has become.
(Continued on Page 5)