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