Willow Creek Stables

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We offer a full boarding facility in Cleveland, Tennessee specializing in Padded and Performance Tennessee Walking Horses. Willow Creek provides training, boarding, showing, and breeding of this wonderful horse. John and Dana Smith are members of the Walking Horse Owners Association and offer stud services of their registered Walking Horse, Dub. He's pictured to the right or visit his own page to find out more information about him. Dub is currently in training in Shelbyville, TN for the upcoming show season.

Tennessee Walking Horses are beautiful horses with a lot of history in their background. They are a breed that is composed of a lot of different horse breeds to create the performance horses that we have today. Tennessee Walking Horses were developed for the purposes of riding, driving, and light farm work. They also became very popular with Southern plantation owners who called them Plantation Walkers. These men needed horses with comfortable gaits that could carry them the many miles necessary for inspecting their large fields fields.  You can see the original stocky, work horse body type on some of the Walking Horses today. They are large boned with solid necks on them. Many trail riders prefer this body type than the smaller, more defined horse of the show ring.

The Tennessee Walking Horse has a "running walk" that they are extremely popular for. It is a swift, smooth and extremely comfortable to ride. It is said to be a trait that is bred into the foals from the characteristics of the mother and father. The running walk is a four beat gate with a natural bobbing of the horse's head. It is said that the horses are traveling up to speeds of 6-12 miles per hour and that they can maintain this gate for long periods of time without major fatigue to themselves. The Walking Horse has other gaits that they are known for as well such as the "flat-foot walk" and the "canter" or also known as the "rocking chair gate" because of the slow and high rolling motion that is full of spring and rhythm with continuous fluid graceful movements. The flat walk is a slower gate than the running walk and is just as easy on the rider as the running walk.

The breed is extremely affectionate, intelligent, and very gentle. They make great horses for pleasure, trail, and show horses. We invite you to come visit the farm and see what makes this breed such a great investment for you, your family, and your farm.

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