1964-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1964 January Voice | Page 5

JANUARY
TEWES1EE WALKING
H0BSE
Bred to Walk,
Born to Greatness
Stallions Who Have Made
the Modern
Tennessee Walking Horse
By Fred E. Friend
Among the difficulties encoun­
tered in attempting to write about
the great stallions of the Tennessee
Walking Horse are knowing where
to begin, which horses to include
and exactly how to convey in a
few words a true impression of
their importance to the breed.
Should one attempt to begin with
BALD STOCKINGS, who first
called attention to the running
walk as a distinctive gait? Should
the scores of recognized founda­
tion sires who created the condi­
tions enabling ALLAN F-l to be­
come the technical fountainhead of
the breed be given the space to
which their achievements entitle
them? If one begins with ALLAN,
should all of his famous descend-
ents be chronicled, or should only
a few? Then, if the horses to be
included can be decided upon, one
must yet determine what should be
written about them so that every
reader, veteran horseman and
novice alike, will feel a new ap­
preciation for what these great
sires have meant to our breed.
In this brief sketch, we shall
limit our discussion to ALLAN F-l,
his most famous son, ROAN
ALLEN F-38, this stallion’s two
most widely known sons, WIL­
SON’S ALLEN and MERRY BOY,
and the most important son of each
of these sires — MIDNIGHT SUN
by WILSON’S ALLEN and
MERRY GO BOY by MERRY
BOY. Also, we shall be flexible
enough to take a passing look at
the all-time Walking Horse dam,
MERRY LEGS F-4. Such a limited
discussion obviously omits many
of the also-great and the al­
ALLAN F-l, from a photograph made May 15, 1905, when ALLAN was 19
years of age. (Photograph by courtesy of Ben A. Green)
most-great among the stallions of
the breed and may oversimplify
the story of the Walking Horse so
that a careless reader (or writer!)
may leap to the conclusion that he
knows the breed merely because
he knows something of a few of
the important individuals in its
history. With these cautions and
admissions plainly recognized and
with our limited plan adequately
described, let us look at this short
story of long greatness.
Although there were good Walk­
ing Horses in Tennessee long be­
fore he arrived and although there
doubtless would be today such a
recognized breed as the Tennessee
Walking Horse if he had never
come, BLACK ALLAN, the trot-
ting-bred pacer from Kentucky,
fully deserves the illustrious posi­
tion that he holds as the technical
fountainhead of the breed; for
ALLAN’S extreme prepotency
stamped his desirable qualities of
good disposition, attractive saddle-
horse conformation and easy, flow­
ing gaits under saddle upon his
descendents in a way that no