Walking On Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2015 | Page 9

Giovanni
An Early Contributor of Conformation and more...

I

n the early years of the walking horse
industry, breed enthusiasts were very
sensitive to the fact that the American Saddle Horse eclipsed the Tennessee
Walking Horse when it came to conformation. Many of the breed’s leaders were
very anxious to close this gap and many
sought out solutions to this problem. Once
such solution was the stallion Giovanni.
A product of Kentucky’s saddle horse
industry, the black stallion, Giovanni,
was brought to Middle Tennessee in approximately 1910 by Henry Davis. Davis
brought him home to Wartrace for the
specific purpose of improving the conformation of Tennessee Walking Horses.
He had evaluated the stallion’s gaits and
determined that he would be a suitable
cross for walking horses that were members
of the breed’s dominant Allen family. The
Allens brought a great deal to the walking
horse but, even their strongest admirers
admitted they could use some physical
refinement.

Many who witnessed Giovanni first
hand, did not give him entirely exceptional
conformation marks. Everyone admitted
that he was picture perfect up front, but
some tended to compare his back end to
that of a billy goat. However, few deny
that he had a significant role in refining the
looks of the Tennessee Walking Horse.
Giovanni not only made the breed look
better, he also produced enough talented
offspring to make a significant impact in
the show rings of the 1920s and 1930s.
As early as 1922, Henry Davis’ Giovanni
sired Spider was trouncing competition
all over Middle Tennessee. The 1930 and
1932 Tennessee State Fair champion,
Night Rider, was out of a Giovanni mare
and the 1931 winner, Maytime, was