All About Champ

Champ having himself a nice roll in the dirt :o)

A Quick History Lesson

Did you know the Walking Horse breed was created by accident? Bred to fill a need for transportation both under saddle and in harness, the Walking Horse was a combination of American Saddlebred (for style), Morgan (strength), Standardbred (endurance) and Thoroughbred (speed). Because they were used extensively for plantation supervision, the nickname "Plantation Horse" was born.

The foundation stallion for the Tennessee Walking Horse was named Allan F-1. He was considered a failure as a trotter and changed owners again and again until he was purchased by a man named James Brantley in 1903 at the age of 17. In the hands of a proper trainer, Allan exceeded Brantley's expectations and the resulting crosses between Allan and Brantley's mares produced outstanding sons. A registry for the Tennessee Walking Horse was established in 1935, listing Allan F-1 as the foundation sire.

Ode To A Horse

My daughter had to write a ballad for an English assignment several years ago. She opted to write it about Champ, and considering she was a middle schooler at the time (and deaf to boot) I thought it turned out pretty darn well so I'm sharing it here.

For those of you wondering how on earth a deaf person can rhyme, the answer is simple. They can, for the most part, simply match up words with the same spelling like "barn" and "darn" (I did have to tell her that "horses" and "courses" rhymed though, since they are spelled differently :o)

We do things a bit strangely around here; like have worm paste parties in the pasture (and yep, I did a lens on it! :o) Champ always lumbers up to the fence wearing a ridiculously hopeful expression the minute he sees us coming with a bag that could, maybe, possibly contain worm paste. He gets his dosage first (yummy), and then is allowed to lick the ends of everyone else's tubes - sort of a gross version of you licking the beaters when your mom makes a cake...

Anyway after giving Champ his dose, my husband Rickey was keeping him occupied playing with the empty tubes while our daughter and I quickly finished worming everyone else. Suddenly I heard a shout, followed by a number of repentable words. I turn around and there's my husband with his arm in Champ's mouth, practically up to the elbow bellowing, "Give that back... Dang it...Give it...Hey-Hey-HEY!" Apparently Rickey got a little too relaxed in his grip on the empty tube and Champ just slurped up the whole thing - wow! My husband was, thankfully, able to retrieve the tube (Whew :o)

WOO that feels good!