RODGER'S PERFECTION

The Tennessee Walking Horse is a truly American breed of horse, the product of Saddlebred, Standardbred and Morgan blood. Tennessee Walking Horses nod their heads as they move. Tennessee Walking Horses do not trot, but do a running walk and/or a flat walk. The best Walking Horses have an overreach so that as a rear hoof touches the ground, it comes as far forward as the hoof of the front leg that is already on the ground. A Tennessee Walking Horse's stride can be so smooth that a rider can hold a glass of water in one hand without spilling the contents while riding.

In Tennessee Walking Horse shows, the horse wears two brightly colored braided ribbons from his forelock and his mane. The ribbons are always the same color. The rider often uses a saddle called a cutback or saddle seat saddle, which is an English saddle with very long flaps. The rider sits far back and has a very tight hold on the reins to get the horse to perform his smooth gait.

One of the most famous Tennessee Walking Horses was a black stallion named Rodger's Perfection, foaled in 1955, the son of Midnight Mack K. and a mare named Merry Walker. Perfection carried two crosses to the famous Merry Boy and a cross to the immortal Midnight Sun. In 1959, Perfection became the Tennessee Walking Horse Grand Champion under the tutorship of Joe Webb. If you look at the picture, you will see Perfection's great overreach.

After Perfection was retired, he sired GLL's Carbon Copy, the Tennessee Walking Horse World Champion of 1964, and was the grandsire of World Champions, Shades of Carbon (1976) and Mark of Carbon (1978).

Diane Jones
Windt im Wald Farm