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I own two "easy-gaited" horses. Melody Sundance, a Tennessee Walking Horse, is of "the heat of the ginger." G's Liberated
Lady (aka Cupcake), a racking horse, is "the colour of nutmeg." Easy-gaited horses (in an earlier time called single-footers
or amblers) often appear in my writing.
In my novel, Patches On the Same Quilt, a young boy's wish for a racking horse changes his life and the lives of several
later generations.
I wished for a horse when I was a kid. Finally getting one was my dream come true.
| I'm about 5 or 6 in this picture. |
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| I lived for the days I could go to the pony rides on Williamson Road in Roanoke. |
When I was a kid in the 1950s, I saw a lot of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry movies. I didn't realize it at the time, but these
movies had a lot of influence on me. From them, I learned how to structure a plot: create a protagonist who is a good guy
(or gal), have him (or her) challenged by an antagonist who isn't so good, throw in a bunch of complications, have the protagonist
win against heavy odds, and wrap up the loose ends. If the protagonist has a good horse, so much the better.
In my short story, "Insult to Injury," my young protagonist Imogene wants to be Roy Rogers. (Wonder where that idea came from?)
However, a mule-riding girl in 1950s rural Bedford County, Virginia, can't do this--or can she? "Insult to Injury" won the
2001 Wytheville Chautauqua Short Story Contest and is one of the thirteen stories in The Girl Who Raced Mules & Other Stories.
From watching these Westerns, I also acquired a desire for a horse. Little did I know that one of the Triggers was a registered
Tennessee Walker: Allen's Gold Zephyr, foaled in 1941. Next time you watch an old Roy Rogers movie, and you see Roy riding
along the trail with the Sons of the Pioneers while he plays his guitar and sings, notice how smooth Trigger is. Trigger
is racking! He's an easy-gaited horse.
From the time I was seven and saw Gene Autry and Champion perform at Roanoke's old American Legion Hall Auditorium, I
wanted a horse just like Gene Autry's Champion--a bright chestnut with a wide blaze and a long, flowing mane and tail. One
of Gene Autry's Champions was a registered TWH, Stonewall Allen. See several of the "Champions" at this site:
Gene Autry and his many Champions
I love natural easy-gaited horses, not those with exaggerated gaits. I believe gaits should be bred in, not nailed on. Neither
of my mares has been trained by unscrupulous means.
Melody is a registered Tennessee Walker of Midnight Sun bloodlines. Cupcake is registered as a racking horse. She is mostly
Tennessee Walker, with a bit of Morgan, Standardbred, and goodness-knows-what-else. Her TWH bloodlines are from Merry Go Boy.
Since Melody is a TWH, I'd like to give a link to the Tennessee Walking Horse registry. However, the TWHBEA still promotes
the "performance" horse (their term for the padded shoe horse with artificial gaits). Instead,here are links to some sites
that promote the naturally-gaited horse.
Friends of the Sound Horse is an organization that opposes soring. FOSH provides information "about the humane care, treatment
and training of gaited horses." Click on the links below to read about FOSH:
The National Walking Horse Association promotes and preserves the naturally gaited walking horse.
Those unfamiliar with horses might not know what the "easy gaits" are. Lee Ziegler's "Gaits Without Gimmicks"
contains some good articles explaining the easy gaits and some videos. Although Lee died in 2006, her website has been preserved
in her memory.
Easy-gaited horses have been around for centuries. They would have been popular in Shakespeare's time. His description sounds
like the ideal easy-gaited mount:
So did this horse excel a common one
In shape, in courage, colour, pace and bone.
Round-hoof'd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long,
Broad breast, full eye, small head, and nostril wide,
High crest, short ears, straight legs and passing strong,
Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide:
Look, what a horse should have he did not lack,
Save a proud rider on so proud a back.
Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis
Prior to the 1700s, easy-gaited horses were the preferred mounts. Now, however, many of those early gaited breeds--the
Hobbies and Galloways, for instance--no longer exist. An easy-gaited horse--an ambler--is mentioned by Geoffrey Chaucer in
the Wife of Bath's Prologue:
Upon an amblere esily she sat,
Ywympled wel, and on hir heed an hat
As brood as is a bokeler or a targe;
A foot-mantel aboute hir hipes large,
And on hir feet a paire of spores sharpe.
In "Last Wish," Chapter 1 of my novel PATCHES ON THE SAME QUILT, the main character's father tells about ambling
horses being mentioned by Chaucer.
The horse, Old Molly, in PATCHES ON THE SAME QUILT is a racking horse who survived the Civil War. Indeed, many Confederate
soldiers rode off to war on easy-gaited horses. Robert E. Lee's Traveller was easy-gaited with a springy, ground-covering
walk. While the Saddlebred folks claim Traveller, the horse was built like a Tennessee Walker. Click the picture of Traveller
to learn more about him.
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| General R.E. Lee on Traveller |
Stonewall Jackson's Little Sorrel was another famous easy-gaited Confederate horse. Little Sorrel's stuffed body is on display
at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Click the picture to learn more about Civil War horses.
Besides VMI and Washington & Lee (where Traveller is buried near the chapel), Lexington, Virginia, is also home to the
Virginia Horse Center. Something is always happening there. Once in a while, you can see easy-gaited horses there, but (alas!)
not often.
However, every summer, the Virginia Gaited Jubilee, with classes for a variety of easy-gaited horses, is held at the Virginia
Horse Center.
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