TENNESSEE WALKING H I 2; RSE
BRED TO WALK
( Continued from Page 6) the ideal stallion to breed to the Walking Mares which they had been developing for many years. Between 1903 and early 1910, ALLAN stood at the Brantley stables; the last months of his life were spent on the farm of Albert M. Dement, where he died September 16, 1910, at the age of twentyfour.
Among the scores of good colts sired by ALLAN F-l during the extremely productive years he spent on the Brantley farm, none has proved to be more important
RUDE was the best flat-foot walker I ever saw. She was fine, and the kind of mare you would select to be the dam of a great horse.”
ROAN ALLEN soon distinguished himself as a Walking Horse of championship calibre in the highly competitive shows of Middle Tennessee, where he often met and defeated( and was sometimes defeated by) the best saddle horses of his generation. Mr. Brantley has testified to his abilities:“ ROAN ALLEN could go more gaits, and do them all more correctly, than any horse I have ever heard of, or seen perform. His flat-foot walk
MERRY LEGS F-4, from a photograph made about 1920 when MFnnv LEGS was approximately 9 years of age. The little girl has been irienfifiia as Huda Dement, daughter of MERRY LEGS ' owner, Albert M n S( Photograph by courtesy of Ben A. Green) ement.
to the breed than ROAN ALLEN, foaled May 23, 1906. This stallion also received through his dam, GERTRUDE F-84, some of the best saddle horse blood in America. Mr. J. R. Brantley stated shortly before his death:“ I have always contended, and still believe, that any great breeding stallion was backed through several generations with outstanding dams that were truly representative of that particular breed. This is doubly true of ROAN ALLEN through ALLAN F-l, his sire, and GERTRUDE, the dam of ROAN ALLEN----- GERTwas strong and fast. He coulc the running walk, canter, walk, fox-trot, and also do a feet square trot in harness. He a great overstride of from 3 40 inches in his running walk would stay in form, of course was as fast then as any of speediest walkers of this Truly, ROAN ALLEN could seven distinct gaits and wa ' trained, and he knew the ri < cue for every gait.” The late e: ent horseman and father of National Celebration, Mr Henry Davis, has also pr £
JANUARY
ROAN ALLEN’ S performances as a show horse and has given us a word-picture of the stallion as he appeared in the ring:“ His pomp and style, erect head, the longest and most perfect neck on any horse, perfectly arched, erect ears, and a heavy water-spout flaxen tail that would touch the ground when he was standing still, made him what I still believe to be a perfect picture of horse flesh. He would immediately catch the applause from the large gathering of horse lovers from over the state.”
But of course it is as a sire that ROAN ALLEN made his greatest contributions to the breed. From 1909 until 1930 he transmitted the qualities which made him great, and with the remarkable prepotency of the truly superior breeding horse he left his imprint forever stamped upon the breed. His being honored by the designation of F-38 in the official registry of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ and Exhibitors’ Association of America is but small testimony to his tremendous impact upon the breed. Perhaps W. Henry Davis has best summarized his importance:“ No horse of our breed has ever produced sons that showed as perfect gaits as those of ROAN ALLEN. His daughters also produced great horses during the life of the old sire, and they are still reproducing today, in their advanced year many of the top horses of our L:,: d.”
As we have r > viously suggested, the influence ROAN ALLEN F-38 has been, iransmitted most powerfully through two of his many worthy sons, namely, WIL SON’ S ALLEN and MERRY BOY. Let us first trace his influence
through WILSON’ S ALLEN.
Although he was well respected during his long lifetime as a producer of true Walking Horses, u was only after his death and the establishment of the National Celebration in Shelbyville( both events occured in 1939) that the real greatness of WILSON’ S AL LEN came to be realized fully. As the sire of PRIDE OF MEMPHIS, a popular and successful show geld