I am going to start a "Breed Spotlight" entry to address the many kinds of wonderful horses out in the world. I am going to start with a great American breed, the Tennessee Walking Horse, a famous gaited horse. I hope one day to own a Walking horse and always imagined how beautiful they were and how much fun they must be to ride ever since I was a little girl.
Not many people know this fact, but Roy Roger's
Trigger and the Lone Ranger's
Silver were TWHs. The TWH was designed for farm work and for taking landowners around their large properties. They are a recreational and transportation animal and range from 14.3 hands to 17 hands, coming in all sorts of colors. They are an elegant, but strong and solid horse, and related to Spanish horses, as well as the thoroughbred, Morgan, and American Saddlebred.
They are famous for their sure-footedness and their extremely comfortable ride. They are absolutely famous and world renown for their flat-footed walk, running walk, and canter.
At one dismal point in their history, people liked to emphasize the action of their walk and so they called it a "Lick" style, but licking high kicks with their front feet as they walked. People went to horrific lengths to make this gait exaggerated, including putting tacks in the white line of the horses' hooves, putting caustic chemicals on their pasterns, making them wear excessively heavy shoes and chains, and in other ways making it incredibly painful for the horse to put his front feet down. Of course, these stupid practices are now recognized for the abuse they are, and so the showing industry is trying to regulate them far more. I would hope that the horses' natural, relaxed, but well-trained style of "Licking" would be the vogue and not the hyper-exaggerated, pain-ridden style!
Anyway, that was a very icky side bar. In general, the TWH is known for intelligence, kindness, bravery, companionability, and athleticism! A good horse to adopt as part of the family!
You can read more about this great American breed at the following links:
http://www.twhbea.com/or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Walking_Horseor
http://www.gaitedhorses.net/BreedArticles/twhfacts.htmor
http://www.twhnc.com/
photo by Bob Coglianese of the lovely Spring Waltz, a 2003 filly just like my lovely Violet. She won the Grade 2 Rampart Stakes by 9 furlongs over the weekend of March 8, 2008. In the Daily Racing Form, her jockey, Javier Castellano, said "There was no question that I was concerned with getting stuck behind horses on the final turn. We had to squeeze through a little bit, but she's got a big heart. As soon as we made it through, she hit another gear and took off."
