Most anyone who encounters the Missouri Fox Trotter eventually asks the same question. "Just where did these horses come from?" Even very experienced horsemen have to admit that they've never heard of the breed, and that doesn't really upset us. What does upset us is the often repeated theory that the Fox Trotter is merely a Tennessee Walking Horse that didn't "make the grade." Even Fox Trotter fanciers sometimes refer to our breed as the Poor Man's Walking Horse. And that is anything but the truth.

While many of today's most well-known individual Fox Trotters may have been heavily influenced in recent years by the Tennessee Walking Horse breed, in truth both breeds remain quite separate and distinct. Contrary to popular opinion, the Missouri Fox Trotter Horse was not an offshoot of the Walking Horse breed. Instead, the two breeds developed almost simultaneously, in neighboring regions, out of similar stock, for almost the same reasons. The Missouri Fox Trotter developed in Missouri and Arkansas, primarily from the same stock that was to become today's American Saddlebred Horse, with the considerable influence of the Narragansett Pacer, and later, the Canadian Pacer. On the other hand, the Tennessee Walking Horse was derived in Tennessee, primarily from the American Trotting Horse, which is now known as the Standardbred, with the heavy influence of the Morgan Horse and the Canadian Pacer. The Fox Trotter is derived from "ambling" stock, while the Walker is derived from soft-gaited, trotting and pacing stock. Even today, the Walking Horse remains a basically laterally gaited horse, and the Fox Trotter a diagonally gaited horse, and therein lies their primary difference.

Long before the establishment of the Colonies in America, the British and Western Europeans rode ambling gaited horses such as the Hobbies, Galloways, and Spanish Jennets. In fact, Britons are believed to have been riding soft-gaited horses as early as the time of the Roman Invasions. But, in the 17th Century, the importation of the Oriental Barbs and Arabian horses began the development of the English Thoroughbred and coach horse breeds in Europe and Great Britain, and marked the decline of the use of the soft-gaited breeds.

When explorers and later, settlers, came to the New World, they brought with them their soft-gaited saddle horses. The French took Norman horses to the Canadian Provinces, while the English brought their ambling horses to the American Colonies. While they were not generally large horses, they were smooth-gaited and possessed of remarkable stamina. As Bob Womack, leading historian for the Tennessee Walking Horse breed, will quickly tell you, the Colonists later began importing the square trotting English Thoroughbreds, not to produce racing or riding horses, but to improve the bone structure of their work mules!

At this period in American history, the most prominent saddle horse was the now extinct Narragansett Pacer, which originated around Narragansett Bay, in Rhode Island. They were small, sorrel colored horses, and there is much speculation over their exact ancestry. Some historians believe they derived from the British Hobbies and Galloways, while others believe they were derived from the Spanish Jennet. The truth may never be known, but in addition to being highly prized as smooth gaited saddle horses, they were also widely raced in those areas of the Colonies where religious leaders would allow such "dubious" sport. It is uncertain just which gaits they actually performed, as in those times all the soft gaits were grouped together under the terms "pace" or "amble." Exported to the West Indies and Caribbean Islands, these horses mixed with Spanish stock, to form many of today's Paso breeds.

To the North in the Canadian Provinces, French mares were crossed with English and Dutch stock, to produce what became known as the Canadian Pacer, a breed which still exists, but in very small numbers in that country. The most famous Canadian Pacer of them all was Tom Hal, a blue roan stallion foaled in Canada around 1806, and later taken to Kentucky. This great horse is listed as foundation stock for the American Saddlebred, as well as the Tennessee Walking Horse and Standardbred. Among his many accomplishments, Tom Hal once won a wager for his owner by carrying him 80 miles across Kentucky in a single day, between sun-up and sun-down, and then turning around and making the return trip, the following day!

Then, the American Colonists began crossing their gaited stock with the English Thoroughbreds. One famous stallion was Hedgeford, imported in 1832, and his most remembered son was Denmark. Denmark was bred to a mare of Narragansett background known as the Stevenson mare, from Cockspur bloodlines, and their foal was Gaines Denmark. During his career, Gaines Denmark produced four legendary sons, and in 1908, the American Saddle Horse Breeder's Association named him THE single foundation sire of the Saddle Horse breed. Previous lists had included such horses as Harrison Chief, Tom Hal and Copperbottom.

The type of horse we now know as the American Saddlebred was the most widely used saddle and harness horse in Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee by the mid-19th Century. Although his sire, Denmark, was a square trotting horse, his dam was Narragansett Pacer bred, and so, the great Gaines Denmark was one half easy- gaited. In checking the first four volumes of the Saddle Horse Register, out of almost 7500 horses, all but 20 trace directly back to Gaines Denmark, and so, since the middle 1800's, almost every Saddle Horse born has carried easy-gaiting blood. While today, most people don't think of the Saddlebred as soft-gaited, many still perform the walk, trot, canter, "slow gait," and rack. And, traditional ly, the accepted slow gaits included the running walk, stepping pace, or fox trot. Asked for additional speed, the horse would "rack on!" Although most of today's five-gaited Saddlebreds tend to perform a slower version of the rack or a stepping pace for their slow gait, many can still perform an animated version of the true fox trot gait.

About 150 years ago in our country's history, when the hill people of Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River to settle the Ozark Mountain regions of Missouri and Arkansas, they took with them their best horses. The square trotting horses were able to cover the ground, but their gait was uncomfortable, and tiring for both horse and rider within just a few miles. The "Walking Saddle Horse," or "Plantation Horse" as the Tennessee Walker was called then, would running walk, and that was fast and comfortable, but proved less sure-footed on the rough, rocky terrain of the Ozarks than it was covering the level row-crop plantations of the deep South. The horse who could fox trot proved the most useful in the Ozark region, and so, horsemen bred their fox trotting horses to local stock, and the Missouri Fox Trotter breed began.

One of the greatest descendants of Gaines Denmark was the stallion, Rex Denmark, who stood in Kentucky. Another of the great stallions of that era was Black Squirrel, who was foaled in 1877, and taken to Missouri, to be put in training with Joe McDonald of Mexico, Missouri (near Columbia). Mr. McDonald was a highly respected breeder and trainer of Saddle Horses, and he bred his best mare to Black Squirrel, producing the legendary performance and breeding mare, Lucy Mack. Bred to Rex Denmark, Lucy Mack's first foal was Rex McDonald, still considered by most to be the finest five-gaited stallion in breed history. Later, Lucy Mack went on to produce other famous foals, founding the Rockaway line of Missouri Fox Trotters, who for many years were known simply as Black Squirrel horses. If you probe deeply enough, you will find that Black Squirrel and Rex McDonald appear in the background of many, many early Fox Trotters, including perhaps the most famous stallion of them all, Golden Governor. He was a Rex McDonald horse through his dam, Betty Fox, the grand-daughter of Rex Shepherd, by Rex McDonald. Another famous Black Squirrel horse was Chester Dare, grandsire of Cadmus Dare, and great-grandsire of Ted and Cotham Dare, three of the most famous stallions in the history of the Fox Trotter breed.

Another great foundation stallion in the Fox Trotter breed was Old Fox, and little is known about the horse, except that he arrived at a livestock auction in Missouri around 1911, as an aged stallion in a trainload of animals which originated in the Pacific Northwest. While he proved to be an exceptional working stock horse, his photographs strongly suggest Saddlebred breeding, and at that time, there was a major Saddle Horse breeding farm in Washington state, although anything more is merely speculation. But, his influence on our modern breed is beyond argument.

So, the early Fox Trotter horses were predominantly Saddlebreds in background, and many can be carefully traced directly back to Gaines Denmark, and so, Denmark, the acknowledged foundation sire for the American Saddlebred horse.

However, the recognized foundation sire for the Tennessee Walking Horse breed was a registered American Trotting Horse named Black Allen, No. 7623 in the American Trotting Registry, and listed in the Tennessee Walking Horse Registry as Allan F-1. His sire may have been a Trotter, but his dam was a Morgan, from Blackhawk breeding.

Foaled in 1886, Allan was considered a complete failure as a harness racer. He was described as a "quitter," because he was so loose-gaited that he would knock his legs to pieces before he could finish a race. He wasn't thought much better as a breeding stallion, and he frequently passed from owner to owner. However, some writers later described him as an excellent flat-footed walker, and when he was sold once more in 1903, his new owner bred him to his great walking gaited mare, Gertrude, and the rest, as they say, is history. Gertrude was a tremendous big red roan mare, with a blaze face and four white stockings. She was mostly Saddlebred on her sire's side, while her dam was Morgan and Canadian Pacer, and when bred to Allan, they produced Roan Allen F-38, perhaps the most famous Tennessee Walking Horse of them all. Roan Allen was known to flat walk, running walk, square trot, fox trot, pace and rack. His sire, Allan, was later bred to the Dement mare, Nell, and produced the legendary mare, Merry Legs. Another Allan son was Hunter Allen, ancestor of Midnight Sun. Roan Allen and Merry Legs went on to produce many registered Tennessee Walking Horses who were strong natural Fox Trotters, and today, their names appear on the pedigrees of many older Fox Trotters, while Midnight Sun was the horse who originated the "Big Lick" style of running walk, so desired in the show ring, today.

This article was not intended as some great scholarly work on the origins of the Missouri Fox Trotter breed, but to demonstrate that while these two breeds are closely related, they are not just two slightly different versions of the same horse. Although the Tennessee Walking Horse and the Missouri Fox Trotter are the only two breeds in America who perform the flat footed walk, their intermediate gaits are entirely different. The fox trot is an uneven broken form of diagonal trot, while the running walk is an almost even lateral gait similar to the ordinary walk, but actually a form of broken pace.

Perhaps much of the confusion between the breeds began when it was realized that many of the Roan Allen line of Tennessee Walkers, among others, were able to fox trot naturally, and in some cases, actually preferred the fox trot gait over their "natural" running walk, passing this tendency on to their foals. When religious opposition ended dirt track racing in the Southern states, horsemen began to exhibit their horses in the arena, and classes were held for "Plantation Saddle Horses." Accepted gaits included the fox trot, running walk, stepping pace and rack. But, the fox trot as a show gait was not as exciting to watch as the gaits of the Walking Horse or Saddlebred, and many Fox Trotter breeders backed away from showring competition, concentrating instead on producing good working stock. But, other breeders began out-crossing their Fox Trotters to Tennessee Walking Horses, to produce a more stylish animal, with a more elevated head carriage and dramatic way of going.

Up until just a few years ago, the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association was an open registry, and would accept a horse of any background if it was able to demonstrate the fox trot gait under saddle. When the first all Fox Trotter Celebration was held in Ava, Missouri in 1959, the majority of winning horses were foundation Fox Trotters, and that trend continued for many years. But, in 1968, the World Grand Champion performance horse was Zane Grey, a grey stallion out of one of the great Fox Trotter mares, Lady Anne, but sired by a purebred Tennessee Walking Horse, Sterling Merry Boy, a very elegant grey stallion who had never even been seen under saddle. While many breeders had already been experimenting with the Walking Horse cross, Zane Grey's showring brilliance helped launch a virtual stampede.

Suddenly, everyone wanted Walking Horse blood in their horses, but instead of carefully developing only those lines already known to produce natural fox trotting horses, some breeders chose those Walkers who were merely convenient, and the results were not always satisfactory. Fortunately, the Sterling Merry Boy horses generally proved multi-gaited, and the fox trot could be encouraged over their other gaits, and they have indeed produced some of the most exciting show animals in our breed.

While it is true that the infusion of Tennessee Walking Horse breeding to the Missouri Fox Trotter has helped produce a more exciting horse for the showring in terms of style, reach and rhythm, many breeders also argue that it may lead to a deterioration in the natural gaits of the breed. It is an argument which will probably always continue among breeders and owners of Missouri Fox Trotters, but today it is quite possible to find many horses registered with the Missouri or American Fox Trot Horse Breed Association whose pedigrees are filled with purebred Tennessee Walking Horses, and that leads to confusion for many people new to the breed. However, the influence of the Walking horse is of fairly recent origin, and does not reflect the complete history of the Missouri Fox Trotter breed.

No, the Missouri Fox Trotter is not "just a poor man's Walking Horse," but a truly unique breed of American horse, originally developed to answer the specific needs of the Ozark horsemen, but which is now rapidly becoming America's most sought after breed, for the showring, trail or ranch.

Copyright © 1997 - Foxfire Farm, Reprinted by Permission

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