KENTUCKY BREEDER OF TENNESSEE WALKING HORSES APPLIES TIME-PROVEN THEORIES OF BREEDING TO PRODUCE OUTSTANDING COLTS
Occasionally a personality appears on the Walking Horse horizon that is bound to make a mark on the breed. Such a man, in our opinion, is Mr. GORDON WILDER of Lexington. Kentucky. Most outstanding in his approach to the Walking Horse business is a keen understanding of the background of the breed and a knowledge of the type of stock that must be developed if the Walking Horse is to continue to thrive. Here is a man who has spent a considerable amount of time in study and research of the breed, and here is a man with a program and a goal. We present here his story, as he tells it, which we feel will be of great interest to Walking Horse lovers everywhere.
" I started with Tennessee Walking Horses as a small boy in Alabama, following my father’ s foxhounds. It was not unusual to ride 30 or 40 miles on one hunt. I came to Lexington, Kentucky to make my home in 1921, and have had a pack of fox hounds here until recent years, and hunted on Tennessee Walkers. " In 1960, I decided to get into the breeding of Tennessee Walking Horses. After some research, and from previous knowledge and experience, I decided to build my band of young brood mares around Midnight Sun. His record clearly showed him to be the most prepotent sire of Tennessee Walking Horses living. ' Records live-opinions die.’ I decided to buy top Midnight Sun yearling fillies, and do selective line-breeding around him by breeding to top sons ofhis. I have no criticism to make of other prominent stallions. It so happens that I selected Midnight Sun.
" I want to make it very clear that I am not attempting to develop any new theory of breeding. What I am endeavoring to do is to carefully follow past proven scientific selective line breeding with very occasional in-breeding, which, through the years, has been done so successfully with dairy and beef cattle, swine, poultry, plant life, etc. With Tennessee Walking Horses, Mr. ALBERT DEMENT, the Master Breeder, followed selective line-breeding very successfully in his breeding program. Last Chance, Merry Boy, Merry Legs H( known as Little Merry Legs), Snip’ s Chance, the dam of Midnight Beau, and the grand dam of Sun’ s Delight and Johnny Midnight, and others, are fine examples of what has been done in Mr. Dement’ s master breeding program. There are many other examples of highly succsssful selective line-breeding, such as
Wilson’ s Allen, Go Boy’ s Shadow, Merry Maker, etc. We even have prominent cases of successful in-breeding, such as Curlee’ s Spotted Allen, Billie Wilson, sire of the dam of Sun Dust, Wilson Allen Jr., etc. " I do not approve of line-breeding, as such, except where there is a definitely proven prepotent sire or dam whose strong blood you want to maintain. I certainly do not approve of inbreeding except under extremely careful and selective conditions. Just to line-breed a registered stallion to a registered mare would be the height of folly; to in-breed in this manner could well be a catastrophe. A carefully-thought-out program, combined with the exercise of good judgement and common sense, applies to horse breeding as to most of our other life endeavors. That’ s the long and short of it.
" To carry out my line-breeding, and occasional in-breeding, long-term program closely around Midnight Sun I have bought since 1960 top yearling Midnight Sun fillies at Harlinsdale Farm annual yearling sale held during Celebration week. I now have 10 top young mares by Midnight Sun. Before going to Tennessee for Celebration week, I carefully study the Harlinsdale Farm sales catalogue, and pick out the ones I consider top bred for my breeding program. I extend their pedigrees out seven and eight generations, if possible. Bloodlines are very important to me, and I believe I place more emphasis on the dam line than most breeders. Though I am very pedigree-conscious, I am breeding first and foremost for natural walking ability. Like begets like, and I think the best bredones, with natural walking ability behind them, are certainly more apt to have foals with natural walking ability. I also try to breed for conformation, smartness, alertness, style, fineness- no one admires a goodlooking smart one more than I-but none of these
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SUN ' S MIDNIGHT DUKE- 62 '/ 2 % MIDNIGHT SUN blood- the outstanding sire chosen by Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Wilder specifically for breeding purposes. Now standing at Harlinsdale Farms, Franklin, Tennessee.
10 VOICE of The Tennessee Walking Horse