The Tennessee Walking Horse also known as the Tennessee Walker, or just the Walker as it is affectionately known as by breeders and owners, is considered to be one of the premier gaited horses worldwide. The horse was produced solely as a smooth riding horse for plantation owners and wealthy individuals in the southern United States to be able to comfortably travel over vast properties. Since the ground was relatively rough and uneven and often even very mountainous in some areas, these horses had to be both sturdy and sure footed as well as gaited and a smooth ride. The result was the development of the Tennessee Walking Horse.
The breed can trace its history back to the original gaited breeds such as the Canadian Pacer, the Morgan, Narragansett Pacer and the size and speed came from the Thoroughbred. The real foundation sire of the breed was actually a Standardbred stallion out of the famous Hambletonian 10 that was named Black Allan. Black Allan, despite his famous lineage, had a strange gait, which was a four beat walk and trot, rather than the traditional trot or pace of the racing Standardbred. Since he could not be used on the track he was sold to a horse breeder in Tennessee that used this strange "walk" to form the foundation of the Tennessee Walking Horse breed. All the offspring from Black Allan had the same distinctive four beat gait that now serves as one of the distinguishing features of the breed.
The Tennessee Walking horse does not have all the flashy gaits of some of the more Hackney type gaited horses such as the Racking Horse. Rather the Tennessee Walker has a very distinctive four beat gait at either the flat-footed walk, which is the slow version of the gait and the running walk. What this gait sounds like is a separate four beat sound as each foot, one at a time, hits the ground individually. The weight is distributed evenly and continually from the four corners of the horse with the movement being laterally along the sides of the horse rather than across the horse with a typical trot or walk. This means that the rider, in the center of the horse, feels very little movement of the horse's body and virtually no jarring as the foot falls occur.
The running walk is really an amazing gait to ride or to watch. It almost appears like the horse is moving its legs in slow motion but covering huge amounts of ground as it goes. The horse extends the legs and has good thrust and forward movement, but again the weight is evenly distributed in the regular four beat cadence and foot fall pattern that prevents any jarring or jostling of the rider. The Tennessee Walking Horse can keep up the running walk gait for hours, minimizing even long trips or rides into a smooth, relaxing and restful experience. Many show horses as well as pleasure riding mounts are Tennessee Walking Horses with the breed being ideal for riders of all ages and ability levels.
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