WALKING HORSES in MONTANA
by Ethna Friesen Belt, Montana
There have been Tennessee Walking Horses in north central Montana for twenty-seven years. Mr. and Mrs. GLEASON, who own the Circle Eight Dude Ranch in Teton Canyon near Choteau, Montana, bought Westbrook’ s Colonel Allen in Tennessee in 1938, and hauled him to Montana by truck.
He was the first Tennessee Walking Horse stallion in this part of the country, so naturally he caused quite some excitement among the horse lovers at that time. A writeup and picture of the horse appeared in the GreatFalls Tribune explaining the wonderful gait, breeding and use of the Tennessee Walking Horse in the south.
Mr. and Mrs. Gleason crossed this stallion with Montana-bred mares and produced some wonderful horses for their use as trail, pack and dude horses. When they sold Colonel Allen a few years later he went to Kodiak, Alaska, to improve the horses up there.
In 1944 the Gleasons made another trip to Tennessee and purchased a w ' eanling stud colt from Harlinsdale Farm. This colt is Apple Jack 442583, sired by Gold Bond 420919, by Wilson’ s Allen; sire’ s dam Kerby’ s Lady Lou by Byrom’ s Allen by Merry Boy. Dam’ s mother is Kerby’ s Trixy Girl by Wilson’ s Allen. Second dam, Lady Hardy by Pruitts Allen by Hunter’ s AllenF-10.
They left Apple Jack inTennessee that winter and had him shipped to Montana by railroad the next spring. Mrs. Gleason tells of a little incident that happened when he arrived in Choteau. The Circle Eight Ranch is about thirty miles from town over rough roads, as it is high in the Rocky Mountains. They had asked a friend to meet the train, in case they were late, and take the- colt off. The friend had taken the colt off the train and tied him up, but his halter was too large and he slipped out of it. The colt from Tennessee had quite a ball for himself running around the railroad yards dodging trains and jumping tracks. He decided not to be caught till he had his exercise after his long ride. He finally got curious and went into a building where some men were working, so they were able to catch him before he hurt himself.
Apple Jack is 21 years old but is still a handsome horse with his golden sorrel color, blaze, two stockings and flax mane and tail. He loves to show off and can walk with the best of them. He passes his color, gait and conformation on to his colts, showing his long hip and beautiful head and neck.
The Gleasons use sixty horses on their ranch, mostly Walkers and part-Walkers. They claim the Walkers make the best mountain horses they have found. They are gentle and easy to handle for the dudes, sure-footed on the steep trails with good feet. They also have a back made for the saddle, which means you don’ t have to stop halfway down a mountain and slide the saddle in place. The Gleasons also raised cattle several years ago and claim the Walkers were excellent stock horses when trained for that kind of work. Mrs. Gleason did an article in 1940 for the American Horseman( Walking Horse Edition) about raising Walking Horses for use with cattle. They have tried other breeds of horses but have found none that suit their needs as well.
I became acquainted with the Tennessee Walking Horse in Fresno, California, in 1953. I kept a couple of horses for pleasure near Fresno, and used to ride over and watch Mr. WILLIS( I believe that was his name) having a two-year-old Walking Horse stallion trained. That colt was April Fool, which I heard later became a good show horse. From watching that beautiful roan with white mane and tail and admiring his wonderful gait, and then seeing some of the Walking Horse show classes at the Fair Grounds, I just knew I would have to own a Walker some day. After moving back to Montana, near Missoula, I bought my first Walking Horse, Snow Prince Allen 501452, a beautiful little white stallion of Brantley’ s Roan Allen breeding. Prince was the biggest little horse I ever rode. The first thing he learned was to drive stock and he learned very quickly. I carried supplies home from town on him whenthesnowwas so deep it touched the stirrups. Other times I tied bales of hay together and drug them with a rope to the saddle horn to feed the stock when the snow was too deep to use the pickup truck. When the fence needed repairing on the steep mountainside, I would drag thepostsup with Prince. He also used to drag cut Christmas trees down a mountainside where they could be loaded onto a truck. There was no job too big for Snow Prince Allen.
In 1956 I decided to raise some Walkers, so I bought some registered mares: Thornton’ s Glamour Girl; The Black Cat; and several Trouble and Last Chance mares. Silvertip Rickey 473752 was another of the first registered stallions in the state. I don’ t know where he came from, or when, but many of our brood mares are granddaughters of Rickey’ s carrying his Last Chance breeding.
I raised and sold some nice colts from Snow Prince Allen. Some of these are Miss Cinnabell, Lady Marcotta, Jocko King, Tamarack Kid, Prince Radar, and many others. These colts are scattered over the northwest now. Some are breeding stock; others are stock horses and pleasure horses.
I sold Snow Prince Allen in 1963 so now I find it very interesting to breed to different stallions matching conformation and blood lines. We are getting better stallions here to choose from all the time. The JACK NEWMAN stables in Great Falls have two fine young stallions, both sired by Rodger’ s Perfection: Midnight’ s Fancy Dan by Golden Sun Allen by MidnightSun at Hot Springs owned by TED MEFFERD; and Fortune’ s Fancy out of Thornton’ s Glamour Girl and by Soldier of Fortune owned by ART HARLOW, Whitefish, Montana. We did let Secret Venture leave our state but he is at Washtucna, Washington, which is not too far away. Fritzsche’ s Merry Boy is at Elmo, and is producing some nice colts. Hay Joe atStevensville is the sire of Joe’ s Lil’ Queen, the high point show mare of Montana in 1964. Snow Prince Allen is at Corvollis. Last but not least is the colt from Tennessee, Apple Jack, who has proved himself to be a sire of horses that can get the job done.
There are still other stallions that I have not had the opportunity to see. After making a recent visit to some of the breeding farms in the state I can see a real improvement in the young stock.
40 VOICE of the Tennessee Walking Horse