In the fall of 1902 he was traded to J. H. Winton, in an adjoining county, for a small black mare.
This new owner kept him only a few months and sold him to J. A. McCulloch, a neighbor, in March 1903, for $ 110.00 to use as a teaser for his jacks. Within a week after this purchase, Mr. McCulloch had priced a good jack to Mr. James R. Brantley of Coffee County for $ 400.00 and he priced ALLAN for $ 110.00. Mr. Brantley recalled that his kinsman, Bob Ashley, who formerly owned ALLAN, had told him of his registration and good blood lines.”( More will be told about ALLAN F-l’ s life in subsequent articles.)
In addition to information about the origin of the horse, we were also interested in the beginning of the Breeders’ Association. To get back to the origin of the breed, Mr. Brantley went back to 1911. He recalled that there were open saddle classes in those days at the various county and state fairs, and that all kinds of horses competed. In 1911 a group of men went to Governor Ben W. Hooper and got him to have a new class for " Plantation Saddle Horses” put in the State Fair Horse Show in Nashville. Their reason for wanting this class was that they were developing horses that could " do something different” fromgaited horses. Even without an organized effort, the various men interested in this horse with the " walking gait” went about their business of breeding and in-breeding for quite a few years. ALLAN was gone in 1910 but his progeny carried on the new gait. Despite the S6.00 stud fee, with a live foal guaranteed, he had been bred well while at the Brantley farm, and mares came from as far away as three or four miles to breed to him. By the 1930’ s the walking gait was easily recognizable and talk began to build up about the prospects of really having something different in these " plantation horses.”
Breeding interested us greatly as we pondered the wisdom of the men who slowly and deliberately developed the Tennessee Walking Horse. The key, according to Mr. Brantley, was the fact that " there were very few stallions around in those days. Nobody wantr ed a stud and most of the yearling colts were gelded as a matter of procedure.” Mr. Brantley said, " Men made a profession of making the rounds to castrate all the yearlings in those days. At a particular time of year they would go from farm to farm and cut all the horses and mules.” In our conversation we discussed the prospects of such a thing being good for the breed today. Perhaps it would!
The idea to start a Breeders’ Association actually came from Burt Hunter of Lewisburg. He had been around these horses all his life and was interested in them and their development. One day he was in Jim McCord’ s office in Lewisburg and mentioned that they might be able to start a breed registry. " This was before Jim became governor, and he was practicing law,” remarked Mr. Brantley, as he thought about what followed the initial idea. A meeting was called, and Henry Davis, Albert Dement, J. R. Brantley, J. French Brantley, Jim McCord, Burt Hunter, Hubert Farrell, Magavric Dickerson, Dr. Frank Fessy, Martin Goodrich, Clyde Westbrook and Pete Beasley met at the bank in Lewisburg.
Since this initial meeting, at which the plans were laid to form a breeders’ association for the new-found horse from Tennessee, a lot has happened. The breed rose in popularity in the late 1930’ s only to succumb to the financial difficulties of the nation during the great depression. Back on his feet in the late 1940’ s, the Tennessee Walking Horse was finally recognized as a breed by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1947. Since that time, Mr. J. French Brantley has witnessed a series of events that might have been disheartening to a lesser man, but he still has the utmost confidence in our horse and has great hopes for its future despite our current problems.
BILL TUNE 61S— 684-I 700
Complete Livestock Insurance
Tennessee W alker Underwriters, Inc.
809 Union Street Shelbyville, Tennessee
DIXIE JUBILEE HORSE SHOW L. S. U.— BATON ROUGE, LA. November 6- 7- 8- 9, 1969
--------------------JUDGES--------------------
SADDLE HORSES, ROADSTERS, PARADE, SHETLAND PONY, HORSEMANSHIP Hon. Welch Greenwell, BROADACRES FARMS. SHELBINA, MISSOURI
•
WALKING HORSES Hon. Benvis Beachboard, Bell Buckle, Tenn. Hon. E. L. O’ Callaghan, Sherrill, Ark. Hon. Clyde Orton, Caruthersville, Mo.
Added: Walking Horse 15.2 and Under Class; Mare and Foal Class; Sire and Get Class
For Information Contact: C. W. KENNEDY, Mgr. P. O. Drawer H, University Station Baton Rouge, La. 70803 Phone:( Area 504) 342-1404
Director, Dixie Jubilee, Inc.— MR. HERBERT SCHILLING, Lafayette, La. President, Dixie Jubilee, Inc.---- DR. BERNARD MISTRETTA, Baton Rouge, La.
September / October, 1969 91