Peggy Pennington is a Tennessee Walking Horse
breeder based in central Kentucky in Crab Orchard. Her blue roan stallion,
Generator’s DR Blue, is certified homozygous roan. Her horses hold a
special place for her, she says. She gives them much love and attention
and strives to produce horses with good dispositions. “I love the breed,
but I do not ride or own any horse that has been padded. I have bought
horses that were padded at one time, and they did not have any gait
problems, or deformities, from having had them,” she commented. She sent
the following to the Mid-South
Horse Review to shed some positive light on the walking horse
world.
“From the time when I was ten years old and was
boosted up to sit on my Uncle James’ 16 hand walking horse, my fate was
sealed. When he handed me the reins with the instructions to take her to
the fence and return to the barn, it was effortless. She glided along,
following the slightest hand command and returned me to my uncle.
Since that time I have
owned and loved many walking horses. It is their willingness and beauty,
the flowing gait, the intelligence that persuaded me to become a breeder.
It is not love of money or thoughts of fame. It is how they interact with
me. It is the blessing of seeing a mare nurture an inquisitive colt into a
proud weanling that makes my heart flutter. I so love seeing these colts
grow into the dream horse that the buyer takes home and loves, the
blessings that are returned to them.
“My stallion is a
ham. He loves the attention of others and works to earn it.” Peggy related
by phone how he nickers at her if she is a tad bit late feeding. “He wakes
me up in the morning and reminds me when it’s time to feed.” “He was used as a trail horse, and I love his
gait, both slow and fast. The glide of the walk, the effortless way he
climbs hills makes you feel like an athlete, knowing you would be unable
to scale those spots on foot. I love his bravery; when the turkey or deer
would fly out, he would look at them without fear. I love his playfulness
on the trail. When he was parked on rest breaks, he would start to ease
over to greet a pretty mare.”
Shown in a video on
her website, Blue is being ridden by Nicole Carswell. Peggy explained that
Blue had not been ridden for four years, but people kept asking for videos
of his movement under saddle. So Nicole rode him for a month to get him
back in shape, then the video was made showing how he naturally goes.
“He has filled my
desire to have a champion. Not by trying for a wall of ribbons, but by
helping me conqueror the trails and now in the production of little blues
- blue roans and red roans, i.e., colts and fillies that help others with
their dream of owning a champion.
“If I’m like most
walking horse owners, it is not the show ring that makes the horse
special. It is the intense satisfaction of having a horse almost talk to
you. The reward is having a huge companion that can carry you for miles,
or just delight your heart by doing a trick to get your attention.
“My decision to keep
my horse a stallion was driven by the above desire and a promise to a very
special man, my father Danny Rorrer. He was diagnosed with cancer when
Blue was two. According to the doctors’ prognosis, I only had three
months to think of how to honor him and to share time with him. I trail
rode every weekend back then. And it occurred to me that I should take my
passion for horses to honor him. I renamed my stallion to include my dad’s
initials in the middle of his name, changing it to Generator’s DR Blue,
from Generator’s Pushin Blue. I told my Dad he would have colts in every
state and two countries with his initials on the pedigree. I think that
was a lofty promise, but now in his third year of breeding to outside
mares, we have his offspring in 18 states and one foreign country. It is
an answered prayer that he was the first Classic Roan certified by UC
Davis as homozygous for the roan gene.”
GENERATOR'S DR BLUE TWHBEA #20301092
BORN:
DIED
COLOR: BLACK ROAN genotype: e rnrn*
MARKINGS: NONE
GENERATOR'S PUSHIN' BLUE TWHBEA #948406 COLOR: BLACK ROAN
MARKINGS: NONE
PRIDES GENERATOR
TWHBEA #753925 COLOR: CHESTNUT MARKINGS: BOTH HIND CORONETS,
SNIP, ON NEAR NOSTRIL, FLAX TAIL.
PRIDE OF MIDNIGHT H.F. TWHBEA #661459
COLOR: BLACK
H. F. SPIRITS NELL TWHBEA #661424
COLOR: CHESTNUT MARKINGS: BLAZE
PUSHER'S
SHADY LADY TWHBEA #865311
COLOR: BLACK ROAN
THE PUSHER
C.G. TWHBEA #725575
COLOR: BLACK SABINO
STAR'S GO SUE TWHBEA #763846 COLOR: BLACK
ROAN MARKINGS: OFF HIND SOCK, STAR.
WALK ON WATER TWHBEA #956677 COLOR:
BLACK ROAN MARKINGS: NONE
QUARTERBACK'S STOCK
TWHBEA #793270
COLOR: ROAN MARKINGS: STAR
THE SUPER STOCK
TWHBEA #686676 COLOR: BLACK MARKINGS: OFF HIND SOCK,
NEAR HIND AND OFF FORE CORONETS, STAR
QUARTERBACK'S BEBE TWHBEA
#734277 COLOR: BLACK ROAN MARKINGS:
DRAW THE LINE TWHBEA #885916 COLOR: BLACK
MARKINGS: NONE
PRIDES FASHION H.W. TWHBEA #753928 COLOR:
BLACK
BOMB'S STARLIGHT TWHBEA #821066 COLOR:
CHESTNUT MARKINGS: STAR
