History of the Tennessee Walking Horse

The Tennessee Walking Horse was developed from Thoroughbreds, Morgans, Standardbreds, Saddlebreds, canadian Packers and Narragansett Pacers owned by settlers in the 18th century. The Tennessee Walking Horse was intended to be a general purpose horse but its extreme comfort made it popular with plantation owners and sometimes called the Kentucky Saddler. Its gaits were developed to ensure a comfortable ride and the Tennessee Walking Horse performs the Flatfoot Walk (a brisk, long-reaching walk that can achieve a speed of 4 to 8 miles per hour), the Running Walk (an inherited, natural gait unique to this breed where the hind legs overstride the front legs that can achieve a speed of 10 to 20 miles per hour) and the Canter which has a high rolling motion.

In 1935 breeders and enthusiasts of the Tennessee Walking Horse formed the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders' Association of America whose purpose was to collect, record and preserve the pedigrees of the Tennessee Walking Horse. The Association also developed rules and regulations and maintained a registry of the breed. From 1948 onwards only Tennessee Walking Horses whose parents were registered were eligible to be registered in the The Tennessee Walking Horse stud book.

Height

The Tennessee Walking Horse stands 13.2hh to 17.1hh.

Colour

The Tennessee Walking Horse is seen in many colours including palomino, cremello, black, bay, dun, chestnut, roan, grey, piebald and skewbald.

Breed Characteristics

The Tennessee Walking Horse has a finely chiseled head, a long graceful and powerful neck, long sloping shoulders, broad chest, short back, strong hindquarters and a low set tail. The legs are slender but strong with hocks are set well away from the body. They have long, flexible, very strong pasterns, and good stout cannon bones.

Temperament

The Tennessee Walking Horse is docile, affectionate, intelligent, willing and easily trainable.

Uses

The Tennessee Walking Horse is versitile and in addition to being used as a general english or western riding horse it is also used for trail riding, ranch work, dressage, driving, endurance, showing, jumping, light farm work, police patrol and more.