1965-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1965 November Voice | Page 7

SUCCESSFUL COMBINATION - Shown
here in a previously unpublished picture
taken several months ago is Midnight Sun
with the three men who molded his suc­
cess os a breeding sire-. Mr. A. F. HARLIN,
Mr. HARLIN HAYES and Mr. W. W. HARLIN.
Twenty-Five-Year-Old Stallion
Succumbs to Colic!
DEATH @F MIDNIGHT SUN ROCKS
WALKING H&MSE WORLD
News Received With Mixed Emotions
by Advocates of “Grand Old Sire"!
MIDNIGHT SUN . . . the undisputed "Sire of the
Century” . . . died Sunday morning, November 7,
1965. "OI’ Sun”, as he was affectionately called by
his many followers, has been the breed’s top stallion
for many years, following his World Championship
victories of 1945 and 1946. Midnight Sun was the
sire of the Grand Championship Walking Horses of
1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1958, and 1963. He
was the grandsire on the dam side of 1964 World’s
Champion Carbon Copy, and grandsire of the 1965
World’s Champion Triple Threat.
The big black stallion was perfection personified
in all respects of the Walking Horse breed. Old-timers
who saw him perform maintain that he had a natural
walking ability that has rarely been seen since. They
say that he literally made the ground shake as he
thundered past in the running walk, with rhythm and
motion in every lickn FRED WALKER, who trained
and rode him to both his Celebration victories, is
reported to have said that Midnight Sun was every­
thing that a great horse should have been — "gentle,
willing and able.”
For twenty-one years, the name of Midnight Sun
has been synonymous with that of Harlinsdale Farms
in Franklin, Tennessee. Together these two famous
names of the Walking Horse business have made
great strides in producing top colts for the nation’s
most critical Walking Horse devotees. It was here
that Mr. W. W. HARLIN and Mr. A. F. HARLIN set
up a program of promotion and breeding for Mid­
night Sun and, with the able assistance of Mr. HAR­
LIN HAYES, established him as a leading sire. The
Harlins purchased Midnight Sun as a four-year-old
in 1944 from Mr. JOHN A. HENDRICKSON of Man­
chester, and in 1957 sold him to Mrs. G. M. LIVING­
STON and Miss GERALDINE LIVINGSTON of Whit­
man, Georgia. He continued to stand at Harlinsdale
Farms after he was sold.
In discussing his great ability as a breeding sire,
Mr. Harlin Hayes states that Midnight Sun possessed
outstanding characteristics as an individual, and also
the blood of the greatest horses of the breed. His
Allen F-l and Hunters Allen F-10 blood formed the
cross that produced greatness in his colts.
In 1957, after Mrs. Livingston purchased Midn ight
Sun, a dispersal of much of the stock at Harlinsdale
Farms was set up, and this led to the establishment
of the annual Harlinsdale Farm sale of Midnight Sun
colts. Since then, this sale has become the leading
sale of Tennessee Walking Horses, attracting horse
lovers from far and near every September.
In May of this year, the VOICE presented an un­
precedented "Silver Anniversary” Salute to Midnight
Sun edition that has since become a collector’s item.
(Continued on page 8)
November, 1965
7