ever sired a mare at any time . Neither have I been capable of discovering how he grandsired horses four years
older than he was .
I have searched Major Brown ’ s data for something authentic bearing on the breeding of this horse . Although his son , Gibson ’ s Tom Hal , was the hub around which revolved his breeding operations , I cannot find as much as a scratch in his own hand to show that he ever entertained any of the speculations he came in contact with .
I will give you a few examples , reminding you that Kittrell ’ s Tom Hal came here in 1860 .
He sired Taylor ’ s Henry Hal , who sired George Washington who sired Gen . Hardee , one of our best sires , foaled in 1862 .
He sired Knight ’ s Tom Hal , who sired Knight Snow
Heels , who was foaled in 1856 .
He sired Taylor ’ s Henry Hal , who sired John Netherland , who sired Lizzie who was the dam of Brown Hal , foaled in 1879 .
He sired Clipper , who sired Mararet who was the dam of Clipper Brooks , foaled in 1865 .
I could go on indefinitely with such impossibilities , but have cited enough to serve this purpose . Now to add to this Kittrell ’ s Tom Hal was forced to go 30 miles over in Lincoln County to get Tom Hal . the sire of Hal Pointer 2.04 1 / 2 Brown Hal 2.12 1 / 2 etc . He was a bay horse , who left a hotbed of roan mares at Mooresville , and went over to Petersburg and served a chestnut mare and got a roan stud . There may be an instance where this was done and I have heard it stated that there had been a few rare instances of roan coming from solid parents ; if so , please cite me to such proof . It is admitted by all old local horsemen that Gibson ’ s
Tom Hal was foaled between the Marshall County towns of Cornersville and Mooresville . I have shown that both Nolan ’ s Copperbottom and Morrill ’ s Copperbottom ( two chestnut roan studs ) were standing in those localities at the time , and before and after Gibson ’ s Tom Hal was foaled . They were both old enough to have sired the darn of this chestnut roan , Tom Hal , or they were young enough to have sired him . He was the same color and handed down the gray hairs to 75 per cent of his progeny . When Capt . Gibson resurrected him he had a longstanding case of fistula , and had been making the season at $ 7.50 with a guarantee that you would get a saddle colt . I knew him when both age and disease had taken its toll . The fact that he lived 30 years was evidence of great vitality .
But when speed at the pace was a secondary consideration with this family of saddle horses , there was a period of years that no horse in this section could cope with this same Tom Hal . He had many races at the old fair ground , with Reckless , and always came off victorious . However , when it came to breeding many preferred Reckless , and he was liberally patronized in this section . But with less opportunity Tom Hal asserted his right to superiority as a sire in accord with his success as a pacer . I cannot now find where Reckless has ever chalked the board except through siring the gray horse , Scipio , who figures in the maternal line of Greyworthy 2:02 1 / 4 , Czar Peter 2.08 1 / 4 , and some other notable trotters .
It was claimed by some that Gibson ’ s Tom Hal was 15 hands 2 inches in height . I could not think him much , if any , over 15 hands . He was rather plain , but not at all coarse ; muscular , with a flinty set of legs , and an exceedingly bright eye . The nearest latter-day likeness t him is the horse , Counterpart 2.06 1 / 4 , raced in 1925 b ° -
Eddie McGrath . He was so named for his resemblan / to Tom Hal and Gen . Hardee , both of which play a prom °
inent part in his pedigree .
When I was a boy , 75 per cent of the horses in this section were gray or some kind of roan . But when th bay , Hal Pointer 2.04 1 / 2 and the brown Hal 2.12 1 / 2 appeared , there was a rush to breed out the roan and gray . In so doing it is probable that many of the strongest characters and individuals were denied their rights The gray hairs are the hardest to eliminate but once they disappear , cannot be recovered except through the direct infusion of a roan or gray .
Brown Hal was by a roan , and Peter The Great by a gray , but I do not think it can be shown that either ever sired any roan or gray except from a dam of a like hue
Hal Pointer 2.04 1 / 2 was by Gibson ’ s Tom Hal ; first dam . Sweepstakes , by Knight ’ s Snow Heels ; third dam , Kit , by McMeen ’ s Traveler . And as Star Pointer 1.59 1 / 4 was out of the same Sweepstakes , as was Elastic Pointer 2.06 1 / 2 . I have taken this pedigree and traveled backwards with the sires from McMeen ’ s traveler . There were many notable exceptions , but this is the combination of blood that produced a greater number of horses that were later to come into prominence .
In the March , 1925 , issue of the Breeder ’ s Journal , Judge Reese Blizzard has the following to say .
Again the great speed and racing qualities of the Hal family has never been satisfactorily traced to any fountain source . The founder of this family , like the founder of the Blue Bull family and the Cadmus family was without speed . But after coming to the soil fertilized by Pacing Pilot it was but a short time until this family was showing remarkable speed . Bald Stockings “ could pace like the wind ”. There is some conflict between Wallace and Major Campbell Brown as to whether this horse was one of the Hals which founded the Hal family of Tennessee . By sifting the wheat from the chaff there cannot be much doubt about it . Place Pacing Pocahontas and Bald Stockings side by side and who will doubt that they were relatives ? Both chestnuts , both white face , both with four white legs , both large , both having the same conformation and gait . Pocahontas was regularly trained and bald Stockings was not , but , both had about an equal amount of speed before training . From whence could this speed have possibly come except through Pacing Pilot ?
As Cornersville was the early seat of the most successful breeding of studs for distribution through out this section it is important to state that William McCrory was the most prominent and progressive breeder then known , and later on he was emulated by his son Drake McCrory .
In 1868 William McCrory procured the three-year-old
colt , Brooks , by Ston ’ s Pilot , a son of Pilot , Jr ., by Pacing Pilot .
Brooks was a dark brown horse , 16 hands high , legs white , above the knees and hocks , bald face , and one glass eye . He had a great deal of speed for his day and time , as noted before in this story in his races with Nolan ’ s Copperbottom . He first came into the limelight as the sire of the great old-time trotter , Bonesetter 2.19 . The latter sired appropriately named Flash 2.16 1 / 2 who after one of Maud S ’ s famous miles worked immediately in 2.11
92 Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse