The Tennessee Walking Horse

The Breed:

The Tennessee Walking Horse is a light horse breed founded in middle Tennessee. The breed is a composition of Narragansett and Canadian Pacer, Standardbred, Thoroughbred, Morgan, and American Saddlebred stock. Originally bred as a utility horse, this breed is an ideal mount for riders of all ages and levels of experience. The breed easily adapts to English or Western gear, and its calm, docile temperament combined with naturally smooth and easy gaits insure the popularity of the Tennessee Walking Horse.

Tennessee Walking Horses generally range from 14.3 to 17 hands and weigh 900 to 1200 pounds. The modern Tennessee Walking Horse possesses a definitive head with small, well placed ears. The horse should have a long sloping shoulder, a long sloping hip, a fairly short back and short, strong coupling. The bottom line should be longer than the top line, allowing for a long stride.

The Gaits:

The Tennessee Walking Horse performs three distinct gaits: the flat foot walk, running walk, and canter. These three are the gaits for which the Tennessee Walking Horse is famous, with the running walk being an inherited, natural gait unique to this breed. Many Tennessee Walking Horses are able to perform the rack, stepping pace, fox-trot, single-foot and other variations of the famous running walk. While not desirable in the show ring, the above mentioned gaits are smooth, easy, trail riding gaits.

See our list of gaited horse breeders, farms/ranches for Arizona-based Tennessee Walking Horses. If you are interested in Tennessee Walking Horse gifts, t-shirts and apparel visit our gaited horse shop. To see Tennessee Walkers for sale check our Horses For Sale classified ads.

This link and information is provided for your convenience.

FOSH Mission Statement :  The mission of Friends of Sound Horses, Inc (FOSH) is to promote the sound ownership, training, exhibition and breeding of gaited horses with a specific emphasis on the Tennessee Walking Horse. Particular importance is placed on public education and training concerning the humane care, training, and treatment of all gaited horses. FOSH is a humane educational organization and as such will support and sanction only such venues and programs that deal exclusively with flat shod horses, regardless of breed, and will never endorse any program whose activities support the training, exhibition or sale of horses wearing stacks and/or chains as action devices or using any mechanical, chemical or other artificial means to modify the natural gaits of the horse. FOSH is to do all lawful things in connection therewith.

For more information, please visit the FOSH website or contact a FOSH supporter.