Introduction of Allanna

[Allanna]

Greetings from the White Mountains of Arizona, USA, I’m Allanna Jackson, author of the book Back Yard Walkin’ Training Tips, the first natural horsemanship training book written for TWH. It was published in 1993.
In 1995 I edited the authorized, revised edition of Ben A. Green’s book Biography of the Tennessee Walking Horse which was the first history book about the TWH breed. It was originally published in 1960.
I’m also the editor of The Walking Horse Journal, a black and white magazine published 6 times per year for and about any and all non-show uses of horses that inherit the running walk gait. We started The Walking Horse Journal in July 2001 and it is now in its 7th year. All of these publications are available from my employer, FOUR CRAFTSMEN Publishing in Lakeside, Arizona, USA.
I’m an American Westerner by heritage and culture. I was raised in southern California and Arizona. I was baptized into the Christian faith in a Lutheran Church on Pentecost Sunday May 14, 1967. My Christian faith is the most essential part of who I am and provides direction and purpose for every aspect of my life, including my horse activities. I’m a Walking Horse purist which means I expect the running walk to be inherited, not man-made with training or shoeing.
We were living in Hemet, California, when I became interested in horses in 1973. I had to settle for occasional rides on ponies or horses owned by friends and acquaintances. None of the equines were gaited. The possibility of developing a relationship with a horse intrigued me. I taught myself to ride horses by doing it, and usually rode bareback. When I did have a saddle to use it was Western.
Much of California was claimed by Spain in the 1500’s. The Western discipline grew out of the horsemanship of the conquistadors, missionaries and colonists who brought horses to the New World. The California Vaqueros adapted their Spanish horsemanship to the tasks of raising cattle on the vast California Ranchos and Mission lands. The California tack and training methods are still a distinct tradition within the Western discipline. All the horses and ponies I rode as a child neck reined. They were always ridden on a loose rein so they traveled in a relaxed body and head position. Any contact at all with the bit meant stop, or back up if the horse was already standing still. Shoes, if they had any, were plain and used only to keep the hooves from wearing down too much. Trail riding was all I did.
In 1975 the family friend whose ponies I rode leased a TWH mare called Barbie Doll to breed to a Welsh Pony stallion. Barbie Doll was so crippled from a shoulder injury she could barely move so I couldn’t ride her, but something about her temperament intrigued me. I only saw Barbie Doll once.
We moved back to Arizona in 1978. My parents told me I could have a horse only if I took full responsibility for its care, including expenses.
In October 1981, I finally got my first horse, a small, chestnut TWH mare named Sacia’s Pride. She was a Western working Walker, bred and raised in Montana to be a mountain trail horse. She was 7 ½ years old, half blind, green-broke, barefoot, and pregnant but she was the perfect horse for me. We taught each other. Sacia’s Pride had perfect manners and became better than my dreams.
In 1982 there was only one training book for TWH and one brochure published by TWHBEA. Both were about training big-lick horses for the Tennessee show rings. What little they did say about pleasure horses was: “Do the same thing as for the show horses, but less of it.” I know people who are quite happy with what the diluted show methods do for their pleasure horses. Those methods didn't work for trail riding my Western-bred Walker in the Arizona mountains. In just 6 weeks the show oriented training techniques ruined Sacia's Prides gaits and destroyed her self-confidence. I learned too late that it would also cripple her.
The first step out of our confusion was Johnny Berguson’s World’s Most Complete Course in Horse Training. Mr. Berguson taught his horse-friendly, Bible-based training methods long before the term “natural horsemanship” became popular. I got a few riding lessons from a graduate of Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre, then took a horsemanship class at the local college. By the time I’d completed those Sacia’s Pride was a trail, parade and versatility horse who willingly did anything I asked her to do. I’ve always done all my own training, grooming and care for every horse I’ve owned. I have shown my horses occasionally, usually against other breeds in All-Breed shows, and always exhibited them myself.
In 1983 I began my own independent research into the all the gaits of horse. I also read everything I could find about breeding and TWH history and bloodlines. My research is still going on because I learn something more from every horse I see or ride.
In August 1984 I began writing a monthly column called Back Yard Walkin’ for Cristine Holt’s Walking Way magazine. This put me in communication with flat-shod Walking Horse enthusiasts from all across North America. The Walking Way was sold in 1989 then went out of business.
Back Yard Walkin’ first in appeared in the January 1988 issue of The Walking Horse News magazine published in Alberta, Canada. I’m still writing for it. The Walking Horse News is now in its 31st year, making it the oldest flat-shod TWH publication in the world.
My breeding ventures began in 1988 when I bred Sacia’s Pride to the TWH stallion, Mischievous Secret. I bought my first stallion, Luckys Koko Prince, in late 1995. Koko did a successful shipped semen breeding in 1997. I’ve raised several foals but did not get a live foal from a breeding I’d planned until 2002.
Back Yard Walkin’ Training Tips was an indirect result of the “Great Southern Alberta Walking Horse Tour” of Oct. 1990.
Sacia’s Pride and I spent two months in Alberta, Canada, in 1992, hostessed by Jo Kingsland. It was a very enjoyable and informative visit. Thank you Jo!
The Plantation Showcase magazine published my Back Yard Walkin’ articles in the 1990’s. I also wrote a few articles for North American Walker. Both magazines went out of business about 10 years ago.
My experience was with Western and Canadian working Walking Horses until 1999 when I made my first trip to Tennessee. I knew the Southern USA has a different culture from the Western USA before I went, but the difference in performance expectations, selection criteria and training of TWH was much greater than I expected even among natural Walking Horse enthusiasts.
I’ve currently got two mares who are half sisters out of the same Racking mare but sired by two very different TWH stallions. They each take after their sire. April Velvet (Stormy’s Desert Storm x Sam’s Blue Blaze) is a black roan with no markings. She was bred in Tennessee, but born in my back yard in April 2000. It’s been quite interesting applying my totally natural, gimmick-free training methods to a Tennessee Show-bred horse.
Back Yard Cinnamon (Luckys Koko Prince x Sam’s Blue Blaze) is a brown minimal sabino who was born in 2002. She is the only live foal I’ve gotten from a breeding I planned. Her sire was a foundation-bred Western Canadian Walking Horse with very rare lineage. Cinnamon is a Western Walking Horse. She has been bred to the running walk gaited Morgan stallion, Mary Mels White Sage, who is registered with the American Morgan Horse Association. Cinnamon is my trail horse.