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Brown Shop Road Farms
Cornersville,
Tennessee
WELCOME TO BROWN SHOP ROAD FARMS!
A visit to Leon and Mary Lou
Oliver's Brown Shop Road Farms reveals a kaleidoscope of all
that was important to the Middle Tennessee farm family of
sixty years ago, and remains important to the Oliver family
today. Grazing on the farms' steep hillsides, roaming
through the hardwoods and cedars, and resting in its narrow
valleys are descendants of animals that have been in the
Oliver family for generations. Tennessee Walking Horses of
Heritage bloodlines, horses bred to be intelligent, willing,
and always smooth-gaited, share their space with jennets
descended from stock that won top prizes at the Tennessee
State Fair. American Cream Draft Horses, one of the rarest
of the draft breeds found in the United States, catch the
visitor's eye with their unique champagne colors and proud
dignity.
Gaited ponies run freely until they halt and whirl,
coming down from top speed to reveal a flashy rack, a
stepping pace, or a sleek, nodding running walk. Beef cattle
share space with nervous goats, that unusual strain of goats
sometimes also known as "fainting goats." Leon and Mary Lou
welcome visitors to their heritage farm, but come prepared
to stay a while, for the view and the conversation are
leagues distant from the scene in the show barns only a few
miles away, and the history is so intriguing that it's easy
to listen for hours.
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Leon Oliver with photos of 3
generations of Red Allen stallions & framed yellowed
posters advertising his family's stallions at stud |
Leon Oliver, the oldest of four brothers, grew up on a family
farm in the years before World War II and its aftermath totally changed the
agricultural scene in Middle Tennessee. The Oliver farm was a working farm,
where the products of its fields and pastures determined the livelihood of the
entire family.
Herman Oliver raised both jackstock and registered Tennessee
Walking Horses. When his father-in-law, R.H. Clark, died in 1939, Herman and his
wife Sarah inherited a Tennessee Walking Horse stallion. Registered as Clark's
Red Allen, this sorrel horse boasted the best Roan Allen F-38 line breeding of
the time.
Clark's Red Allen had been both used as a riding horse and as a
breeding stallion by Clark until the horse's hip injury relegated him to
breeding status only. Clark had promoted the stallion by word-of mouth and on
posters in livery stables and local general stores, so he was well-known by the
time he arrived at the Oliver farm. |
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Herman Oliver printed another set of posters advertising the
horse at stud at the family farm two miles north of Ostella on the Yell Road
outside of Lewisburg. The stud fee had risen from for a live foal, the initial
fee when the horse was young and unproven, to with the same terms and
conditions. At one point in time, Mr. Frank Rambo, owner of the 1942 and 1944
World Grand Champions MELODY MAID and CITY GIRL, approached the Oliver's about
the purchase of RED ALLEN as a representative of the finest ROAN ALLEN line
breeding of the time. The Oliver's declined his offer to buy the stallion for
his showplace Oakwood Acres. They continued to offer the services of the horse
until the sad day in 1946 when the horse had to be put down due to injury. Leon
Oliver was the only one of the four brothers to understand the significance of
this day in the scheme of the family's life.
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Herman Oliver did not keep a son of CLARK'S RED ALLEN, but Sara
Mae Clark's brother, Jesse Clark, had bred a beautiful and extremely intelligent
colt by the old horse out of a HUNTER'S ALLEN F-10 mare. By the time World War
II ended, however, and the fifties began, mechanized farming coupled with a
serious drought to sound a death knell for the old plantation walking horse.
Trends in the show ring continued an abrupt swing toward high-stepping show
horses requiring built-up shoes, something for which the farmers' usin' horses
were totally unsuited. Many small breeders quit. Bloodlines died out.
Boss Clark
kept his handsome red stallion, while Herman Oliver, ever resourceful, purchased
a tobiano gaited pony stallion to use on his TWH mares. It was this stallion and
his foals that the four Oliver brothers grew up handling and riding. |
John Oliver on
Bud's Sterling Bullet |
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After a stint in the United States Army, Leon Oliver returned to
Middle Tennessee with a different idea that bucked all the trends of the
mid-sixties. While black was basic and the World Grand Champion bloodlines were
those the most in demand, Leon chose to breed his family's one remaining
registered walking mare, MERRY MAN'S STARR, a daughter of WOMACK'S MERRY MAN, to
his Uncle Jesse's RED BUD ALLEN. Leon sought to preserve what remained of his
family's heritage in raising a foal by the old stallion from this mare of
traditional working bloodlines. The cross resulted in a red horse colt with a
blaze and two hind socks. Leon registered this May, 1967, colt as RED BUD'S
RASCAL.
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Red Bud's Rascal |
For most of his life,
RED BUD'S RASCAL remained what his sire had been, a
true family horse that could be depended upon to do
things like provide a calm ride in a nighttime
Christmas parade. In the larger equine world beyond
his pasture's borders, Racking Horses were the hot
new ticket for pleasure competitors, while the TWH
show horses continued to be exhibited in pads even
in pleasure classes. BUD was a natural walking
horse, not a speed racker, and as such attracted
only a small court of mares.
Times were changing in
the seventies, however, as Saturday night shows
added the occasional Plantation Pleasure class for flatshod horses performing a nodding running walk,
while in the country, trail riding began an upsurge.
Breeders across the nation began searching for
remnants of the gentle, natural walking, utility
horses of the thirties and early forties. Deciding
that he had preserved what the market now wanted,
Leon ordered a set of business cards in 1979
advertising RED BUD'S RASCAL as an old bloodline
Tennessee Walking Horse. |
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During the eighties, breeders first in Middle Tennessee, then in
other areas, discovered the gentle nature and smooth gaits of the RED BUD'S
RASCAL offspring and wanted more. Meanwhile, Leon took a top mare by OLD BUD to
the court of a grey stallion by EBONY'S SENATOR whose grey color traced in an
authentic line back to the foundation stallion TOP WILSON. This cross produced a
gorgeous grey filly foaled black and a chestnut grey stud colt. Well pleased
with the colt's build, bone, attitude, and gait, Leon sold the filly but kept
BUDS STERLING BULLET to stand alongside his grandsire at service at Brown Shop
Road Farms.
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As the eighties faded into the
nineties, OLD BUD continued to attract mares to his
court, while BULLET's first crop arrived in 1992.
All but one of the six foals was grey, establishing
a tradition of a strong percentage of grey babies
that would prove out in each succeeding foal crop.
Meanwhile the OLD BUD daughters in production
presented their owners with foals carrying the
traits of gait, disposition, and common sense.
As OLD BUD grew older, some breeders retained
sons of the old stallion. RED BUD'S RASCAL died in July of
1997, having sired eleven foals at the age of thirty.
Currently, stallions by OLD BUD in shades of sorrel, sabino,
and palomino are found on farms from Middle Tennessee to
Texas. |
Bud's Sterling Bullet |
Visitors to Brown Shop Road Farms will be able to see a number of
fine daughters of RED BUD'S RASCAL. In addition, the ever-popular Bullet
continues to impress with his excellent manners, gentle nature, smooth saddle
gaits, and balanced, rhythmical canter. A ride on Bullet up and down the
driveway of the home place farm provides a thrill that deserves capture on video
and in photographs.
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The
above photos were taken on the annual "Bullet Ride"
at Circle E in Tennessee, Fall 2007. A good number
of the horses in the left photo were sired by Bud's
Sterling Bullet. Above right, Leon on one of the
Bullet daughters.
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Red Bud's Rascal
parking out as Leon combs his tail |
Leon pictured with Bud's
Sterling Bullet,
grandson of Red Bud's Rascal |
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Brown Shop Road Farms is home to Heritage Tennessee Walking
Horses from one of the oldest pleasure breeding programs in the country,
jackstock descended from prize winners through many decades, beautiful American
Cream Draft Horses, smooth moving gaited ponies, nervous goats, and other
critters not seen at most horse farms. Young stock and well-broke trail horses
are usually available at all times. Leon and Mary Lou welcome visitors, and Leon
is always happy to discuss the wider view of the history of the Tennessee
Walking Horse breed and the part that his family has played in this scenario for
over 75 years.
Leon Oliver and Bob Long
getting ready for a trail ride
Heritage
Tennessee Walking Horse Sales
Listings of available Heritage Walking Horses
Tennessee Walking Horse
Heritage Entrance
All horses advertised on this site are
being sold directly by the Owner or Agent, they are the sole responsible
party regarding each sale or horse. Buyers are responsible for verifying
the soundness & suitability of any horse listed. Kathy, Walking-Horse.com,
Tennessee Walking Horse OnLine, or our agents are not responsible or liable for any
misrepresentation associated with any horse or sale.
Updated
01/26/2010
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