Tennessee Walking Horse - Breed Characteristics

Breed Characteristics

The Tennessee Walking Horse has a reputation for having a calm disposition and a naturally smooth riding gait. It is a calm and easygoing breed, typically easy to train. While the horses are famous for flashy movement, they are quite hardy, popular for trail and pleasure riding as well as show.

In conformation, the Tennessee Walker is a tall horse with a long neck and sloping shoulder. The head is traditionally large but refined in bone, with small well-placed ears. The horse has a fairly short back, short strong coupling, and an elongated stride. In the show arena, Tennessee Walkers are known for their running walk and are usually shown with long, unbraided manes and tails.

Common colors include black, chestnut, sorrel, and bay. Some may also show characteristics of the champagne gene; other colors patterns such as roan and pinto are common. Recently, the breed registry began to recognize the sabino pattern. Many horses registered in the past as roans were, in some cases, sabinos. Tennessee Walkers are generally 15 to 17 hands (60 to 68 inches, 152 to 173 cm) tall, but can range from 13.2 to 17.2 hands (54 to 70 inches, 137 to 178 cm) Weight is generally between 900 and 1,200 pounds (410 and 540 kg).