| Although the first horse on
record to do the running walk was a piebald called Bald Stockings,
by Tom Hal and out of a Copperbottom mare in 1837, the first horse
to be registered as a Tennessee Walking horse was a registered
American Trotting Horse named Black Allen, No. 7623 in the American
Trotting Registry, and listed in the Tennessee Walking Horse
Registry as Allan F-1. His sire was a stallion
called Allendorf, from the Hamiltonian family of trotters, but his
dam was a Morgan, from Blackhawk breeding. In 1885, a
cross between and Maggie Marshall, a Morgan mare, out of Bradford's
Telegraph, resulted in a black colt with a white blaze, off hind
coronet and rear hind sock. The little black stallion Allan
was born in 1886 in Lexington, Kentucky. |
 |
| SIRE: Allendorf |
SIRE: Onward |
SIRE: George Wilkes |
SIRE:
Hambletonian
10 |
|
DAM: Dolly Spanker |
|
DAM: Dolly |
SIRE: Mambrino Chief |
|
DAM: Fanny by Ben Franklin |
|
DAM: Alma Mater |
SIRE: Mambrino Patchen |
SIRE: Mambrino Chief |
|
DAM: Lady Thorne |
|
DAM: Estella |
SIRE: Australian |
|
DAM: Fanny by Margrove |
|
Allen
F-1 |
| DAM: Maggie Marshall (not. reg.) |
SIRE: Bradford's Telegraph
|
SIRE:
Vermont Black Hawk |
SIRE:
Sherman Morgan |
|
|
|
| Dam:
Morgan/Canadian Pacer |
|
| |
| |
|
|
| All his life, Allan was the horse nobody
wanted. His many owners preferred race horses and were
disappointed when Allan preferred to pace. Allan was
considered a complete failure as a harness racer. He was
described as a "quitter," because he was so loose-gaited that he
would knock his legs to pieces before he could finish a race.
He wasn't thought much better as a breeding stallion, and he
frequently passed from owner to owner. However, some writers later
described him as an excellent flat-footed walker. Because of
his strange gaits Allan was not successful in the trotter's breed,
nor in the Morgan breed. It was 1903 when breeders first
realized the quality of that funny-looking little stallion: his
natural way of walking with those quick, gliding steps.
He was able to do that walk over miles and miles and the ride was
not tiresome.
In the
latter half of the Nineteenth Century, dirt track racing became less
popular, and was replaced by show ring competition. When religious
opposition ended dirt track racing in the Southern states, horsemen
began to exhibit their horses in the arena, and classes were held
for "Plantation Saddle Horses." Accepted gaits included the
fox trot, running walk, stepping pace and rack. |
|
|
For years, Mr. James R. Brantley dreamed
of developing a new breed of horse, an easy-to-ride saddle and
harness horse that could serve as the utilitarian horse of his era.
In 1903, he purchased the older stallion named Allan.
Allan carried in him bloodlines of some of the greatest horses of
his day, and Mr. Brantley became convinced that through this horse
he could achieve his dream. |
|
At the Brantley farm in the Noah community of Coffee
County, Allan blossomed. Under Mr. Brantley's loving care
and attention, Allan developed speed and style and, more
importantly, a distinctive running walk. His new owner bred
him to his great walking gaited mare, Gertrude, and the rest, as
they say, is history. Gertrude was a tremendous big red roan
mare, with a blaze face and four white stockings. She was
mostly Saddlebred on her sire's side, while her dam was Morgan and
Canadian Pacer, and when bred to Allan, they produced Roan Allen
F-38, perhaps the most famous Tennessee Walking Horse of them
all. |
 |
| Roan Allen was known to flat walk,
running walk, square trot, fox trot, pace and rack. His
sire, Allan, was later bred to the Dement mare, Nell, and produced
the legendary mare, Merry Legs. Another Allan son was Hunter
Allen F-10, ancestor of Midnight Sun. Roan Allen and Merry
Legs went on to produce many registered Tennessee Walking Horses.
Midnight Sun was the horse who originated the "Big Lick" style of
running walk, so desired in the show ring, today. |
|
|
| In six short years, Allan sired an
overwhelming number of horses who inherited the distinctive walk.
Thanks to the patience and devotion of Mr. Brantley and others,
these horses developed into a new breed that we know today as the
Tennessee Walking Horse.
In 1935, the newly-formed Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders
Association of America registry founders decided to take Allan,
now Allan F-1, as the first foundation stallion. He was
latter to be chosen by the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders'
Association as the foundation sire of the Tennessee Walking Horse.
Allan, the small black stallion with a blazed face, bred from the
finest Morgan, Thoroughbred and Saddlebred stock, was chosen as
the number one foundation sire and designated Allen F-1.
Allan had both exhibited and passed to his offspring a gentle
temperament and the smooth running walk gait. He was given
the title Allan F-1 to denote his being the first horse listed in
the Tennessee Walking Horse stud book.
By 1945, there was a
total of 11,800 entries in the stud books of the TWHBEA and more
than 10,000 of them traced to Allan F-1, - - 2,785 bearing his
name. This is one of the greatest records that has ever been
made by any of the great sires of light horse breeds.
James R. Brantley had realized his dream. Mr. Brantley did
not live to see the huge commercial success the Tennessee Walking
Horse was to become. He died in 1945. His
beloved Allan died in the fall of 1910 at the farm of Albert
Dement, after having been fed green sorghum. The entry
in Allan's stud book reads:
"September 16, 1910. ALLAN died. Served 111 mares
and is said to be twenty-nine years old and he did not have a
missing tooth. He was the gamest horse I ever saw." - -
Jack Grider.
|
 |
| Today, the Tennessee Walking
Horse brings to Tennessee each year not only millions of
dollars in revenue but also the admiration of the millions
of people around the world who are inspired by the gentle
horses with the beautiful walk.
Thank you, Mr. Brantley.
**Please note: All photos that are not
specifically accredited otherwise, are courtesy of
Dr.
Bob Womack, author of "Echo of Hoofbeats." If you
have a story or photos of Allan F-1 that you would
like added to this page, please forward them to
Walkers West.
BACK to LEGENDS |
| |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
