|
History of Tennessee Walking Horses: The Tennessee Walking Horse is an old American breed that was developed in the 1700s. The Narragansett and Canadian Pacer, the Standardbred, the Thoroughbred, the Morgan, and the American Saddlebred breeds all contributed to the development of the Tennessee Walking Horse. The creation of the Tennessee Walking Horse was prompted by farmers looking for a comfortable horse to ride long distances. These horsemen used common breeds to come up with a hardy horse that was willing to work and easy to ride. This new breed, at first known as the Plantation Horse, was widely used by plantation owners to survey their land holdings. Eventually, the horse came to be known as the Tennessee Walker because it originated in the Volunteer State, and had a smooth, ambling gait. The breed became famous throughout the South for this special gait, which was easy to ride for long periods of time. In 1935, the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association was formed in Lewisburg, Tenn., to record the pedigrees of the Tennessee Walking Horse. Today, more than 430,000 TWHBEA registered Tennessee Walking Horses can be found throughout the world.
Conformation: The breed has a large height range, from 14.3 to 17 hands. Tennessee Walking Horses also come in a variety of colors, including black, bay, chestnut, brown, buckskin, grey, palomino, cremello and perlino. Tennessee Walking Horses also come in pinto and roan.
|