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Pictured Above Black Angel
The Gaits of the Heritage Walking Horse
This information was taken from "Biography of the Tennessee Walking Horse" by Ben Green, published by Four Craftsman Publishing, Lakeside, Arizona
These exerpts are comments from horse show judges from the 1950's:
"The flat-foot walk should be bold, square, and straight, above all it should stay flat and loose, like a horse going after cows." by O.R. Matthews, Reelsville, Indiana.
"A horse doing a good flat-foot walk will naturally have head motion. He just can't do a good flat-foot walk without using his head. There is no swing in a flat-foot walk", by Henry S. Alexander, Clinton, Kentucky.
"The running walk should be straight, loose and airy, without any trace or degree of rack, pace, or stepping pace. The horse should reach out in front and pull with his shoulders, and not go too high off the ground. The lick should be followed through without causing either end of the horse to swing - if either end of the horse does swing, the horse is probably pacing." by O.R. Matthews, Reelsville, Indiana.
"The canter should be executed with a moderate rolling, "rocking chair" motion, not too fast nor too high, with head set up, neck slightly arched, chin slightly tucked and head motion in time with leg movement." by John C. Askew, Jr., Nashville, Tennessee.
"I like a horse with substance and bone, and one which can take it, one with good wind, good head and neck, smart pop eyes that miss nothing, good throat latch, with his tail coming out of his hips on the right manner, and a horse with lots of driving power. With hips just a little long in a Walking Horse, I believe it can give him power and stride." by B.A. Skipper, Jr., Longview, Texas.
One of the concerns Ben Green wrote about in this book, originally published in 1960, came from Dr. Jones. He felt that the breed at that time was in peril due to the changing standards demanded by the show ring. He was concerned the true Walking Horse and its characteristics would be lost forever due to the artificial gaits created by soring.
In May of 1960, the Breeders Association adopted rules and regulations to discourage and prevent soring and it called upon judges not to award ribbons to horses that had been sored. The Biography goes on to say, "We have talked three times with a 76-year old veterinarian of 50 years experience with Tennessee Walking Horses to discuss this 'soring' practice. Horses have been sent to him from faraway California for diagnosis and treatment. He is Dr. J.M. Jones, whose rock home and barn are three miles from Lewisburg.
Dr. Jones told us he believes the practice of "painfully torturing and soring horses" for show purposes constitutes a "definite threat to the breed for two specific reasons:"
"1. Horses tortured to man-make an exaggerated or artificial gait cannot transmit the gait to their progeny because they do not have it naturally. The breed itself could be virtually eliminated in time if artificially-gaited horses were to win show stakes and become major factors in the breeding of Tennessee Walking Horses,
"2. In my opinion the torturing of horses, either stallion or mare, to produce these gaits artificially interferes with their nervous systems and they do not breed properly. Certainly if persisted in this treatment of horses can have a most detrimental effect."
The footnote from Four Craftsman to these statements says, "The 35 years since this was written have proven Dr. Jones correct. The artificially-gaited horses did become the stakes winners and major factors in the breeding of Tennessee Walking Horses. In 1995 the natural gait behavior of registered Tennessee Walking Horses is indistinguishable from that of Foxtrotters, Racking Horses, Singlefooters, Spotted Saddle Horses, and Tennessee pacers." and "the use of chemicals as soring agents has been implicated as a cause of kidney failure, liver failure, colic, and mysterious premature death from health problems not usually found in horses."
The TWH Heritage Society Founders have not been heavily involved in the Middle Tennessee show scene and none have ever owned or exhibited a sored horse!
Horses and Our Health
Even during the ravages of World War II, people realized that the outside of a Tennessee Walking Horse was good for the inside of a man or woman.
The following article is from the 1943 Blue Ribbon magazine:
"It matters not whether your battle is in the office, in the factory or on the farm, you'll need strength to fight. Strength comes through health. Health comes from exercise and proper care of your body.
That's where the horse comes into the picture, for it is univerally recognized that horseback riding is one of the finest forms of exercise that man or woman can take. It is not strenuous, yet it is invigorating. It tones up the muscles and gives one a glow of health.
We all need health today. That's why you need a horse. And in choosing a horse you'll probably want one which is easy in the saddle and smooth in gaits, for you don't want to wrestle with your mount wile you ride. In other words you don't want to work while you play. And all of us need a little "play" through these strenuous days to keep us fit.
The Tennessee Walking Horse is known as "The World's Greatest Pleasure Horse." But the word pleasure is rather passe now! Yet, it is sensible and right and proper to conserve our health in the highest possible degree while we carry on with the work that is before us on the home front.
When you have left the office or are out of the store or factory you need some form of recreation to build you up for another day. You can find this on the back of a Tennessee Walking Horse when he carries you along the bridle path, the open road, or around your own premises. That's the tonic you need just now.
The Tennessee Walking Horse is gentle and sensible, easy to saddle, easy to mount and easy to ride. He'll take you there and bring you back and he'll do it in such a smooth manner that you will feel no fatigue after your ride. He's famous for his "free and easy" gaits. No other horse can give you the delightful and gliding ride that he can and will give you, for no other horse has his delightful and gliding gaits.
These gaits are the flat-foot walk, the running walk, and the rolling canter. They'll take you from four to eight miles an hour. After sixty minutes in the saddle on the back of a Tennessee Walking Horse you'll rested and mended, you'll feel fit and fine, you'll be ready for peaceful sleep, and you'll be able to hit the ball all the harder on the morrow."
This fine description of the Walking Horse fits exactly what the breeders of the Heritage Horses are producing today. Although the above article was from the World War II era, the Heritage Horse has remained the same through many generations of careful breeding.
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