RECENT DEATH OF MAJOR BREEDER
BRINGS BACK MEMORIES
by Gloria Spencer
MAUDE GRAY will always be remembered in the Walking Horse world for being one of the great producing mares of the breed . With memories of this mare will always remain the name of the man who purchased her for S75 , Mr . Auburn Gray . Auburn Hollis Gray , nationally known breeder , trainer and authority on Tennessee Walking Horses , died this month at Memorial Hospital in Winchester , Tennessee . He was 74 years of age .
A native of Franklin County , Mr . Gray was a son of the late Sallie Yanzant Gray and Frank C . Gray , Sr . He was one of the original founders of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders ' Association and served as a director for a number of years .
On his farm in the Vanzant Bend community , Auburn and his family raised some great Tennessee Walking Horses . It has always been easy to locate this farm . . . just stop anywhere in Belvidere , Lynchburg or Winchester , and ask , " Where is the Gray farm ?” Anyone you ask will
tell you it ’ s on a back road between Lynchburg and Winchester , Tennessee . When you arrive at the homeplace of Auburn Gray , you will find it atop a beautiful hill looking down along the bottom lands of the Elk River . Over the years , " Gray Hoi-
AUBURN GRAY 1895-1969
low ,” " Maude Gray Walking Horse Farm ” or just the " Auburn Gray Farm ” are some of the old names attached to this farm by the Grays or their friends . At one time a sign on the Lynchburg highway read , " Auburn Gray — Walking Horses With A Future ” — and what a future his Walking Horses lived !
Without a doubt , Auburn and Velma Gray probably entertained more Walking Horse folks in their home than any other people in Middle Tennessee . And Mr . Auburn always liked to tell the story of the great mare , MAUDE GRAY . As the late Jimmy Joe Murray once said , she was " truly the dowager of the Walking breed .” She was bred by John Black of Noah ,
Tennessee , where she was foaled near Cheatham Springs between Manchester and Murfreesboro in Coffee County in 1926 . Auburn bought her around 1930 from Tom Taylor and sold her two days later to Jake Syler who rode her for about twelve months and then took her to a stockyard in Winchester with the price of
S25 on her head . There was no buyer , so Jake swapped her to Ulus Syler for another horse and $ 35 to boot . Soon after that Auburn bought her from Syler for around $ 75 . No one seems to be sure exactly how many colts she produced , but in 1940 she had had eleven and there were several more to follow . The names of LYNNIE GRAY , SIR MAUGRAY ,
30 Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse