1968-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1968 January Voice RS | Page 84

produced many of the great stallions later found in the various communities of this section.

The region generally known to all horsemen as Middle Tennessee, and very aptly termed by our friend Trotwood Moore“ The Dimple of the Universe.” was supposed to include the counties of Maury, Marshall Giles Davidson, Williamson and Sumner and Bedford. Breeders of Thoroughbreds were prominent in these counties from our earliest accounts. And while the earliest data obtainable will show that it was nothing uncommon for a mare to be ridden several hundred miles across several states to a chosen stallion, I propose to list only such Thoroughbred stallions as stood in Middle Tennessee, along with their first year of service, omitting the axact localities, as well as the intricate number of years of service at local points.

Imp. Bagdad( Sent by the Minister of England from Tripoli) 1824

Imp. Leviathan 1825 It appears that Leviathan was transferred to Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky, later coming back to Tennessee.

Timoleon, sire of Boston, sire of Lexington..... 1826 Imp. Stockholder....... 1826 Imp. Leviathan 1832 Imp. Luzoborough..... 1834 The above four horses were great sires and I can find no newcomers until: Imp. Ainderby......... 1849 Imp. Albion.............. 1850

At this period there was a very apparent shifting of Thoroughbred operations to the counties of Davidson and Sumner. And with but few exceptions the remotest thorougbreds found in the back lines of pacing horses were Leviathan, Timoleon, Stockholder Luzborough and Albion. But from 1858 to 1870 we find so much use being made of Dice and Stackpole( sons of Leviathan), and of Commodore( son of Boston), that it would appear our Copperbottoms were about half Thoroughbred.

That the early settlers brought their saddle horses with them there is no doubt. That later on this became a great Thoroughbred breeding and racing centre, is proved by the history that this strain made in both service and racing. These thoroughbred stallions are close up in the pedigrees of saddle stallions that we have been able to trace.

The early breeders of this strain of saddle horse had but one object in view, that of gait. They sought to produce a horse that could fox-walk or running-walk naturally. It must be done naturally in order to be maintained over the long distances encountered at that period. It must be easy to both rider and horse. A tired horse makes a tired rider. That they succeeded is borne out by the fact that at this late date, there does not exist a family or strain of horses than can go these gaits over a distance, but the Hal.

T. L. Porter, who has just died at the age of 90, and whose father, Nimrod Porter, was sheriff of Maury County for 30 years; Col. Simms Latta now 90, and Sheriff of Maury County during the Reconstruction

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Period, and Capt. Ned Lee, now 98 former postmaster here under Franklin Pierce and later in Forrest’ s Cavalry, all agree on one point— that the early settlers brought their saddle horses here with them.

As before noted, there was for a long early period a continual movement of horses between this section and the Carolinas. And the towns of Halifax and Warrenton, N. C., show most frequent mention.

In Willoughby Williams’ correspondence with Gen. Andrew Jackson will be found reference to the bringing of“ Free And Easy” to Warren County, N. C. in 1790.“ As was his name, so was his gait.” He was later followed by Ranger of the same Narragansett strain. While still later in 1823, Copperbottom, a Canadian and Thoroughbred, was brought from Kentucky as a colt. Further on in this correspondence. Mr. Williams alludes to old Copperbottom having been brought from North Carolina to Tennessee in 1843 at the age of 20, where he made three seasons and died in 1846. He was described as a chestnut or liver roan, and a great sire of saddle horses.

Tradition tells us that this strain of saddle horses was much improved as to appearance upon the free use of Thoroughbred in this section. But they began to lose that precision of gait, which became forced and difficult of maintenance. And about this time we have the arrival of Old Copperbottom, a tried and proven sire of saddle horses. This was in 1843. As a check on this old horse, we find that from 1848 to the beginning of the Civil War, there stood in this section four chestnut roan Copperbottoms as follows: Morrill’ s Copperbottom at Cornersville, Marchall County; Nolan’ s Copperbottom at Mooresville, Marshall County; Clardy ' s Copperbottom near old Berlin; Marshall County; and Day’ s Copperbottom, near Culleoka, Maury County.

Big Bigby Creek flows from South to North through the mid-western section of Maury County, and drains a belt about five miles wide that for fertility is probably not excelled on the globe. It is from this section that millions of dollars worth of phosphate has been shipped in the past 25 years. And this being the richest portion of this section, it was accordingly the first settled. That it was a veritable canebrake 20 feet high has been passed down by the generations. And in the 40’ s there was organized in this community what was known for years as the Bigby Stock Company, to study breed, and develop the saddle horse. It was here that Commodore, Stockpole, and McMeen’ s Traveler held forth. In 1851 this company imported from Canada a gray Canadian pacer by the name Tecumseh. But he arrived out of season and

before the opportunity came to use him, a jack killed him.

At about this same time this company started the importation from Southern Mexico of so-called Spanish pacing mares. Parties were sent from here down there to make such selections as they thought were of the proper conformation to produce saddle horses— of course, bearing in mind the fact that the saddle gaits were derived from the pace. These horses are not to be confounded with the mustang, carload after carload of which were distributed throughout the country at a later date. The writer has had some recent experience with the little horses of the Yucatan Penninsula and British Honduras. They usually run from 13 to 15 hands high and are natural saddle horses. They are easy to break and have most amiable dispositions. Their ability to perform great tasks on scant food is marvelous.

With the American Chicle Company on the Rio Hondo,

Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse