The hills and valleys of Middle Tennessee, sloping gradually to the steeper inclines of the Cumberland Plateau, formed the nursery for a breed of horse gaited unlike anything else in the world. This kind of horse was, in essence, a utility animal capable of performing a smooth, nodding walk under saddle, but equally capable of working in harness or pulling a plow. As the reputation for his good qualities spread, demand for this horse created another market for the Middle Tennessee farmer in addition to corn, cotton, tobacco, and mules. A registry was formed for horses of this type, and their market value soared. Although the show ring winners commanded the highest prices, the demand for green stock was also high.

Then a war ended in Europe and the South Pacific, something new found its way to the farms of Tennessee – the tractor. Its efficient availability, coupled with a pasture-killing drought in the early fifties, destroyed the market for the farmer’s horses. The avenue for marketing that remained was the limited one of the show ring. As the standards for the show ring changed in the mid fifties, a change in breeding standards occurred.

“Black and pacey” became the key to success in the sometimes lucrative yearling sales that surrounded each September Celebration. In spite of the shifts in focus of the majority of the Walking Horse breeders in Tennessee, a stubborn few refused to surrender to the trends that threatened to eliminate the natural Walking Horse from his state of birth. These stubborn individuals retained the original vision, standing stallions and breeding mares from bloodlines that had been in their families for years, some of which predated the creation of the TWHBEA. Ignored for decades, these breeders are finally seeing the bright light of success, as demand for what they preserved is once again strong throughout the country – and now the world.

This video is a great example of how the gaits of the World Grand Champions changed from 1939 till 1973. Though more attractive to the audience, there is nothing natural about the movement nor training of the horses nowadays.

This story presents people who managed to walk to a different rhythm, the original rhythm, of a head-shaking, teeth popping running walk, keg shod, down a country lane.
 

It began in 1921, before a breed registry existed, before a World Championship show created a focal mystique for a type of horse originally bred for usefulness rather than flash. The story starts with a sorrel colt foaled in 1921 out of a mare named Nell K. Nell K sported a popular pedigree, her sire being the noted breeding and show horse Roan Allen. Nell had been crossed with a horse named Major Allen, a son of Mitch and the Dement mare Merry Legs. In 1923, the two year old sorrel stallion became the property of R.H. Clark of Lewisburg, Tennessee.

Leon Oliver, the oldest of four brothers, grew up on a family farm in the years before World War II and its aftermath totally changed the agricultural scene in Middle Tennessee. The Oliver farm was a working farm, where the products of its fields and pastures determined the livelihood of the entire family. Herman Oliver raised both jackstock and registered Tennessee Walking Horses. When his father-in-law, R.H. Clark, died in 1939, Herman and his wife Sarah inherited a Tennessee Walking Horse stallion. Registered as Clark's Red Allen, this sorrel horse boasted the best Roan Allen F-38 linebreeding of the time.
 

Clark's Red Allen had been both used as a riding horse and as a breeding stallion by Clark until the horse's hip injury relegated him to breeding status only. Clark had promoted the stallion by word-of mouth and on posters in livery stables and local general stores, so he was well-known by the time he arrived at the Oliver farm. Herman Oliver printed another set of posters advertising the horse at stud at the family farm two miles north of Ostella on the Yell Road outside of Lewisburg.

The stud fee had risen from for a live foal, the initial fee when the horse was young and unproven, to with the same terms and conditions. At one point in time, Mr. Frank Rambo, owner of the 1942 and 1944World Grand Champions MELODY MAID and CITY GIRL, approached the Olivers about the purchase of RED ALLEN  as a representative of the finest ROAN ALLEN linebreeding of the time. The Olivers declined his offer to buy the stallion for his showplace Oakwood Acres. They continued to offer the services of the horse until the sad day in 1946 when the horse had to be put down due to injury. Leon Oliver was the only one of the four brothers to understand the significance of this day in the scheme of the family's life.

continued