TWH Foundation
The Tennessee Walking Horse carries the blood of four distinct living breeds
- the Thoroughbred, Standardbred, American Saddlebred, and the Morgan, plus two
breeds that are virtually extinct: The Narragansett Pacer and the Canadian
Pacer. While English Thoroughbreds, Morgans, Standardbreds and coach horses may
all be found in the background of Tennessee Walking Horses, it was the Canadians
and Narragansetts who formed the basis for their gaits.
The two earliest strains, or breeds, of horses recognized in North America
were the Canadian Pacer, a breed still existing in small numbers in Canada,
which evolved from Norman horses brought to Quebec by French settlers; and the
now-extinct Narragansett Pacer, which evolved from British Hobbies and Galloways
brought to the American Colonies by English settlers.
TRAVELER, 1861 (General Robert E. Lee up)
Bred in Virginia, Traveler was bought by General Lee in 1861. His breeding was
probably of Thoroughbred, Morgan, and Narragansett blood, which flows through so
many well known Tennessee Walking Horses.
About 150 years ago in American history, when the hill people of Kentucky,
Virginia and Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River to settle the Ozark
Mountain regions of Missouri and Arkansas, they took with them their best
horses. The square trotting horses were able to cover the ground, but their
gait was uncomfortable, and tiring for both horse and rider within just a few
miles. The "Walking Saddle Horse," or "Plantation Horse" as the Tennessee
Walker was called then, would do a running walk, and that was fast and
comfortable. While the bloodlines of the Grey Johns, Copperbottoms, Slashers,
Hals, Brooks and Bullett families ran thick and produced a type known as the
Tennessee Pacer prior to the arrival of Allan F-1 in Middle Tennessee, it was a
cross between Allan and the Tennessee Pacer that produced today's Tennessee
Walking Horse. At this time, the most prominent saddle horse was the
now-extinct Narragansett Pacer, which originated around Narragansett Bay, in
Rhode Island.
When the settlers of Middle Tennessee began concerning themselves with
improving their horse stock they naturally looked to other breeds for help. As
was pointed out earlier, the first importations were Thoroughbreds, but whatever
influence these stallions had on saddle horses was incidental to their main
purpose of producing race horses. Certainly such horses were not imported for
the primary purpose of upgrading saddle and utility horses.
Although the Morgan and Thoroughbred were the only established breeds in
America during the early 1800's, there were many famous families of horses
beginning to develop. It is often taken for granted that the Walking Horse was
greatly influenced by the Saddle Horse and the Standardbred. It would seem more
accurate to say all were influenced by the same families of horses.
Most of the saddle horse families which came south to influence the stock of
Kentucky and Tennessee came from Canada or were offspring of Canadian horses.
Most of these were believed to trace to the Narragansett Pacer. In any event it
is known that many stallions were imported into Middle Tennessee during the
early years of 1800 and when crossed with native mares produced what became
known as the Tennessee Pacer. Actually it was this pacer which evolved into the
Tennessee Walking Horse we know today.
While never developing into a distinct breed, the Tennessee Pacer was a
definite "type" and produced some of the nation's outstanding race and saddle
horses. The great families which combined with the utility stock of Middle
Tennessee to produce the Tennessee Pacer are the same families that laid the
foundation for the Tennessee Walking Horse.
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