The story of the Tennessee Walking Horse, the only horse named for a state, is one filled with history. It has been through dedication and perseverance to keeping the bloodlines pure that the breed has grown to the enormity it enjoys today. The popularity and the conformation of the walking horse can be traced directly to Charles Brantley’s family.
Charles Brantley has been a constant force in the breeding and development of the Tennessee Walking Horse. He has worked diligently to insure that the walking horse breed remains pure and the gaits are bred into the horse. Without Charles Brantley’s dedication to detail and his love of the breed, neither the walking horse nor the industry would have grown to where it is today. Located in northern Coffee County, Tennessee, in the Noah community, Charles Brantley’s family farm has a long and rich heritage associated with the Tennessee Walking Horse. It was to this farm in March 1903, that Allan F-1, who has come to be known as the foundation sire of the Tennessee Walking Horse, came to live. In the past century, Allan F-1 and his descendents have been at the Brantley family farm passing on the traits that have made the Tennessee Walking Horse a distinct breed.
Following in his father’s, J. French Brantley’s, footsteps, Charles chose farming and livestock for a vocation. Bob Cherry, executive director of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ and Exhibitors’ Association said, “Charles Brantley and breeding operations such as his are the life blood of the walking horse industry. He and his family have bred the famous walking horse gait into the walking horse, and foals on his farm have dominated the breeding industry.”